DocketNumber: No. 07-3584
Citation Numbers: 336 F. App'x 193
Judges: Ambro, Fisher, Jordan
Filed Date: 7/8/2009
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 11/5/2022
OPINION
Astrit Velihaj, a native and citizen of Albania and a member of that country’s Democratic Party, entered the United States in July 2001. He was charged as being removable pursuant to Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) § 212(a)(6)(A)(i) [8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i) ], based on his entry into this country without being admitted or paroled. Velihaj applied for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture, claiming that he feared persecution because two prominent mobsters had ransacked his home and threatened his life after he publicly identified them and a Socialist Party official as being involved in the illegal trafficking of women.
We have jurisdiction under INA § 242 [8 U.S.C. § 1252], Where, as here, the BIA both adopts the findings of the IJ and discusses some of the bases for the IJ’s decision, we review the decisions of both the IJ and the BIA. See Xie v. Ashcroft, 359 F.3d 239, 242 (3d Cir.2004). Our review of these decisions is for substantial evidence, considering whether they are “supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole.” Balasubramanrim v. INS, 143 F.3d 157, 161 (3d Cir.1998). The decisions must be affirmed “unless the evidence not only supports a contrary conclusion, but compels it.” Zubeda v. Ashcroft, 333 F.3d 463, 471 (3d Cir.2003) (quoting Abdille v. Ashcroft, 242 F.3d 477, 484 (3d Cir.2001)).
An applicant may demonstrate eligibility for asylum by showing either past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. See INA § 101(a)(42)(A) [8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A) ]. To establish a well-founded fear of future persecution, an applicant must (1) provide credible testimony showing a genuine subjective fear of persecution, and (2) demonstrate as an objective matter that “a reasonable person in the alien’s circumstances would fear persecution if returned to the country in question.” Lie v. Ashcroft, 396 F.3d 530, 536 (3d Cir.2005) (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). “[A] key task for any asylum applicant is to show a sufficient ‘nexus’ between persecution and one of the listed protected grounds.” Ndayshimiye v. Att’y Gen., 557 F.3d 124, 129 (3d Cir.2009). An asylum applicant, however, need not demonstrate that the protected ground was the exclusive motivation behind the alleged persecution.
Although the evidence indicates that the threat to Velihaj’s life may be real, it does not compel the conclusion that he fears persecution on account of his political opinion. He claimed that he will be harmed by the mobsters.
Even if Velihaj could establish a link between his fear of persecution and his political opinion, substantial evidence supports the conclusion that conditions in Albania have changed so as to make his fear no longer objectively reasonable on political grounds.
Because Velihaj failed to satisfy the lower statutory burden of proof required for asylum, he also necessarily failed to satisfy the clear probability standard for withholding of removal. See Ambartsoumian v. Ashcroft, 388 F.3d 85, 88-89 (3d Cir.2004). Moreover, Velihaj failed to establish that it is more likely than not that he will be tortured upon his return to Albania. See 8 C.F.R. §§ 208.16, 208.18.
For the foregoing reasons, we will deny the petition for review. We do so with the request that the Government consider whether humanitarian parole for Velihaj is possible in the United States or whether there can be coordination with the Albanian government for Velihaj’s inclusion in its witness protection program should he request it.
. Because Velihaj applied for asylum before May 11, 2005, he is not subject to a provision in the REAL ID Act of 2005 that requires an alien applying for asylum in a mixed motive case to show “that race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion was or will be at least one central reason” for the alleged persecution. See INA § 208(b)(l)(B)(i) [8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(l)(B)(i) ]; Ndayshimiye v. Att’y Gen., 557 F.3d 124, 128-29 (3d Cir.2009).
. Velihaj also testified that the police are unable or unwilling to protect him from the mobsters. But, even if the police were motivated by Velihaj’s political opinion, as explained below, changed conditions in Albania undermine his claim.
. We note the relatively low threshold represented by the "substantial evidence” standard. Our acceptance of the Board’s conclusion, based on that standard, does not mean that we take lightly the fear that Velihaj has expressed.
.We reject Velihaj's contention that the BIA erred by taking administrative notice of the Country Reports without providing him with an opportunity to respond. Although he argued before the BIA that the IJ should have continued the proceedings until the publication of up-to-date Country Reports, once those