Jhonatan Antonio Vasquez- Segovia v. MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney General

NOT FOR PUBLICATION
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
JHONATAN ANTONIO VASQUEZ-
SEGOVIA,
Petitioner,
v.
MERRICK B. GARLAND, Attorney
General,
Respondent.
No. 18-70623
Agency No. A206-737-059
MEMORANDUM*
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted December 7, 2022**
San Francisco, California
Before: NGUYEN and SANCHEZ, Circuit Judges, and BOUGH,*** District
Judge.
* This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent
except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3.
** The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision
without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
*** The Honorable Stephen R. Bough, United States District Judge for the
Western District of Missouri, sitting by designation.
FILED
DEC 13 2022
MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK
U.S. COURT OF APPEALS

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Jhonatan Antonio Vasquez-Segovia, a native and citizen of El Salvador,
petitions for review of a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”)
affirming the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) order denying asylum, withholding of
removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have
jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252. Reviewing the agency’s factual findings for
substantial evidence and its legal conclusions de novo, see Flores Molina v.
Garland, 37 F.4th 626, 632 (9th Cir. 2022), we deny the petition for review.
We agree that Vasquez-Segovia’s proposed particular social group,
“Salvadorian men taking concrete steps to avoid gang recruitment and gang
violence which the government of El Salvador can not and/or is not willing to
control,” is not cognizable here. As “concrete steps,” Vasquez-Segovia points to
the fact that when gang members tried to recruit him, he “would ignore them and
continue on [his] way.” Such ordinary avoidance does not place Vasquez-Segovia
in a discrete or socially distinct group. C.f. Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d
1081, 1092 (9th Cir. 2013) (holding that “people who testify against gang members
in criminal proceedings” is a cognizable social group); Pirir-Boc v. Holder, 750
F.3d 1077, 1084-85 (9th Cir. 2014) (remanding to the BIA to consider whether a
particular social group of “persons taking concrete steps to oppose gang
membership and gang authority” was cognizable under Henriquez-Rivas where
petitioner assisted brother in defecting from a gang).

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And substantial evidence supports the agency’s determination that Vasquez-
Segovia is not entitled to CAT relief because he has not shown that he is more
likely than not to suffer torture in El Salvador. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.17(a).
Vasquez-Segovia was not subject to torture in the past. Nor does the record
evidence compel a conclusion that the government would acquiesce to gang torture
upon his return.
PETITION DENIED.

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