MEMORANDUM **

Luis Pedro Garcia-Vicente, a native and citizen of Guatemala, petitions pro se for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissing his appeal from the immigration judge’s denial of his applications for asylum, and withholding of removal.

We reject Garcia-Vicente’s claim that he is eligible for asylum and withholding of removal based on his membership in a particular social group, namely Guatemalan males who refuse to join gangs, or based on his anti-gang political opinion. See Santos-Lemus v. Mukasey, 542 F.3d 738, 745-46 (9th Cir. 2008) (rejecting as a particular social group “young men in El Salvador resisting gang violence”); Barrios v. Holder, 581 F.3d 849, 854-56 (9th Cir. 2009) (refusal to join a gang does not amount to political opinion.)

Accordingly, because Garcia-Vicente failed to demonstrate that he was persecuted on account of a protected ground, we deny the petition for review.

PETITION FOR REVIEW DENIED.