Document ID: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ca8-05-03340/USCOURTS-ca8-05-03340-0/pdf.json

Parties Involved:
Alberto Gonzales
Respondent
Jhohanes Swandy
Petitioner

Document Text:

1

Swandy has waived his CAT claim. See Chay-Velasquez v. Ashcroft, 367

F.3d 751, 756 (8th Cir. 2004) (petitioner waived claim by not presenting meaningful

argument on it in his opening brief). 

United States Court of Appeals

FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT

___________

No. 05-3340

___________

Jhohanes Swandy, *

*

Petitioner, *

* Petition for Review of an

v. * Order of the Board of

* Immigration Appeals.

Alberto Gonzales, Attorney General *

of the United States of America, * [UNPUBLISHED]

*

Respondent. *

___________

Submitted: November 6, 2006

Filed: December 1, 2006

___________

Before MURPHY, BYE, and MELLOY, Circuit Judges.

___________

PER CURIAM.

Indonesian citizen Jhohanes Swandy petitions for review of an order of the

Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirming an Immigration Judge’s denial of

asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture

(CAT).1

 Having carefully reviewed the record, we deny the petition. See Eta-Ndu v.

Gonzales, 411 F.3d 977, 982-83 (8th Cir. 2005) (standard of review).

Appellate Case: 05-3340 Page: 1 Date Filed: 12/01/2006 Entry ID: 2114360
-2-

We agree with the BIA that Swandy did not establish eligibility for asylum or

withholding of removal because he failed to meet the standard set forth in Ngure v.

Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 975 (8th Cir. 2004), for establishing that there exists a pattern or

practice of persecuting Chinese Christians in Indonesia. See id. at 991 (asylum seeker

must show persecution that is “systemic, pervasive, and organized”). In recent

opinions, this court has denied petitions for review from Indonesian Chinese

Christians seeking withholding of removal (their asylum claims were untimely) based

on evidence similar to that presented here. See Tolego v. Gonzales, 452 F.3d 763,

766-67 (8th Cir. 2006) (rejecting contention that record established pattern or practice

of persecution; State Department reports from 2003 and 2004 show that violence

against Indonesian Chinese Christians has declined and cooperation between religious

groups has increased, and nothing in record demonstrated that government officials

engaged or acquiesced in pattern or practice of persecution); Wijono v. Gonzales, 439

F.3d 868, 873-74 (8th Cir. 2006) (it was clear from record--including 2001 State

Department report--that violence against Chinese Christians persisted in Indonesia,

but it could not be said that such violence necessarily constituted pattern or practice

of persecution, as, inter alia, attacks on Christians were perpetrated by Muslim

extremists and did not result from government action or acquiescence, and attacks

were geographically isolated).

Accordingly, we deny Swandy’s petition for judicial review.

______________________________

Appellate Case: 05-3340 Page: 2 Date Filed: 12/01/2006 Entry ID: 2114360