JOSE EFRAIN ORELLANA-MORALES and ELSA MARINA SANABRIA- MAGANA v. ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General

Eric H. Holder, Jr., is substituted for his predecessor, Michael B.*
Mukasey, as Attorney General of the United States. Fed. R. App. P. 43(c)(2).
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent**
except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision***
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JOSE EFRAIN ORELLANA-MORALES
and ELSA MARINA SANABRIA-
MAGANA,
Petitioners,
v.
ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General,*
Respondent.
No. 08-71146
Agency Nos. A070-812-577
A070-965-079
MEMORANDUM**
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted December 14, 2010***
Before: GOODWIN, WALLACE and THOMAS, Circuit Judges.
Petitioners Jose Efrain Orellana-Morales and Elsa Marina Sanabria-Magana,
husband and wife and natives and citizens of El Salvador, petition for review of a
FILED
DEC 22 2010
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U .S. C OU R T OF APPE ALS

-- 1 of 2 --

2 08-71146
Board of Immigration Appeals order dismissing their appeal from an immigration
judge’s decision denying their application for asylum, withholding of removal and
protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). We have jurisdiction
under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. We deny the petition for review.
Substantial evidence supports the Board’s denial of asylum and withholding
of removal because petitioners failed to show that Orellana-Morales’s alleged
persecutors were guerillas who targeted him on account of his prior military
service. Mr. Orellana-Morales could not explain why the unidentified men beat
him in his home, other than to suggest they were either former guerillas or an
individual to whom he had sold a car. Ochave v. INS, 254 F.3d 859, 865 (9th Cir.
2001) (“Asylum generally is not available to victims of civil strife, unless they are
singled out on account of a protected ground”); Molina-Morales v. INS, 237 F.3d
1048, 1052 (9th Cir. 2001) (explaining that persecution because of a personal
vendetta is not persecution on account of imputed political opinion).
Substantial evidence also supports the Board’s denial of CAT relief based on
the Board’s finding that petitioners did not establish a likelihood of torture by, at
the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of the El Salvadoran
government. See Arteaga v. Mukasey, 511 F.3d 940, 948-49 (9th Cir. 2007).
PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.

-- 2 of 2 --