Case ID: f-appx_50/html/0181-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Maimouna KOUYATE, Petitioner, v. U.S. IMMIGRATION & NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent.
    No. 02-1531.
    United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.
    Submitted Oct. 24, 2002.
    Decided Nov. 18, 2002.
    Diane McHugh Martinez, Law Office of McHugh Martinez, Washington, D.C., for Petitioner. Robert D. McCallum, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Carl H. McIntyre, Jr., Senior Litigation, Michael T. Dougherty, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Respondent.
    Before NIEMEYER, KING, and GREGORY, Circuit Judges.
    Petition denied by unpublished PER CURIAM opinion.
   OPINION

PER CURIAM.

Maimouna Kouyate, a citizen of Guinea, seeks review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (Board) affirming, without opin-ion, the immigration judge’s (IJ’s) denial of her application for asy-lum and withholding of deportation. We have reviewed the administrative record and the IJ’s decision, which was designated by the Board as the final agency determination, and find that substantial evidence supports the IJ’s conclusion that Kouyate failed to establish a well-founded fear of persecution necessary to qualify for relief from deportation. 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a)(4) (1994); 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(b) (2002). We have reviewed the IJ’s credibility determinations and con-clude that they are supported by specific, cogent reasoning, and there-fore are entitled to substantial deference. See Figeroa v. INS, 886 F.2d 76, 78 (4th Cir.1989). We conclude that the record supports the IJ’s conclusion that Kouyate failed to establish her eligibility for asylum.

The standard for receiving withholding of deportation is “more stringent than that for asylum eligibility.” Chen v. INS, 195 F.3d 198, 205 (4th Cir.1999). An applicant for withholding must demonstrate a clear probability of persecution. INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421, 430, 107 S.Ct. 1207, 94 L.Ed.2d 434 (1987). As Kouyate has failed to establish refugee status, she cannot satisfy the higher standard for withholding of deportation.

Kouyate asserts that the Board’s use of the streamlined review pro-cedure set forth in 8 C.F.R. § 3.1(a)(7) (2002), resulted in a denial of due process. As Kouyate fails to establish prejudice from the Board’s use of that procedure, see Rusu v. INS, 296 F.3d 316, 324-25 (4th Cir.2002), she is entitled to no relief on the claim.

We accordingly deny the petition for review. We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal arguments are adequately presented in the materials before the court and argument would not aid the decisional process.

PETITION DENIED. 
      
       We note that 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a)(4) was repealed by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), Pub.L. No. 104-128, 110 Stat. 3009 (IIR-IRA), effective April 1, 1997. Because this case was in transition at the time the IIRIRA was passed, § 1105a(a)(4) is still applicable here under the terms of the tran-sitional rules contained in § 309(c) of the IIRIRA.