O. Esquivel-Ramirez v. INS ( 2000 )


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  •                      United States Court of Appeals
    FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
    ___________
    No. 99-1860
    ___________
    Olga Esquivel-Ramirez,                  *
    *
    Petitioner,                *
    * Petition for Review of
    v.                                * an Order of the Immigration
    * and Naturalization Service.
    Immigration and Naturalization          *
    Service,                                * [UNPUBLISHED]
    *
    Respondent.                *
    ___________
    Submitted: May 5, 2000
    Filed: May 24, 2000
    ___________
    Before LOKEN, FAGG, and HANSEN, Circuit Judges.
    ___________
    PER CURIAM.
    Olga Esquivel-Ramirez, a citizen of Guatemala, entered the United States
    without inspection in August 1991. In 1996, the Immigration and Naturalization
    Service ordered her to show cause why she should not be deported. Esquivel-Ramirez
    conceded deportability, but filed an application for asylum and withholding of
    deportation. Following a hearing--at which she testified she was threatened, followed,
    and later kidnaped and beaten for participating in a pro-labor organization in
    Guatemala--an Immigration Judge (IJ) denied her application. The Board of
    Immigration Appeals (BIA) dismissed her appeal from the IJ’s order.
    Esquivel-Ramirez petitions for review, arguing that the evidence supports her
    claims of past persecution and fear of future persecution. Reviewing the BIA’s denial
    of asylum under the substantial-evidence standard, see Feleke v. INS, 
    118 F.3d 594
    ,
    598 (8th Cir. 1997), we deny her petition.
    After reviewing the record in this case, we conclude that a reasonable fact finder
    could find Esquivel-Ramirez’s fear of persecution was not objectively reasonable.
    State Department records indicate Guatemala’s civil war ended in 1996, the
    government agreed to distribute more equitably government services, and labor activists
    are no longer being systematically physically attacked. Esquivel-Ramirez, moreover,
    presented no evidence that her labor organization still exists in Guatemala. See 
    id. (to overcome
    BIA’s finding that alien lacked well-founded fear, evidence must be “so
    compelling that no reasonable fact finder could fail to find the requisite fear of
    persecution”). We also affirm the BIA’s denial of withholding of deportation. See
    Kratchmarov v. Heston, 
    172 F.3d 551
    , 555 (8th Cir. 1999).
    Accordingly, we deny the petition.
    A true copy.
    Attest:
    CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.
    -2-
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 99-1860

Filed Date: 5/24/2000

Precedential Status: Non-Precedential

Modified Date: 4/18/2021