Source: http://openjurist.org/305/f3d/784
Timestamp: 2016-12-02 18:25:43
Document Index: 96256344

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1158', '§ 1101', '§ 208', '§ 1158', '§ 1101', '§ 1101', '§ 208', '§ 1253', '§ 2', '§ 1231', '§ 1254', '§ 309']

305 F3d 784 Regalado-Garcia v. Immigration and Naturalization Service | OpenJurist
305 F. 3d 784 - Regalado-Garcia v. Immigration and Naturalization Service HomeFederal Reporter, Third Series305 F.3d
305 F3d 784 Regalado-Garcia v. Immigration and Naturalization Service 305 F.3d 784
Cesar Enrique REGALADO-GARCIA, Petitioner,v.IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Respondent.
Regalado-Garcia entered the United States illegally in June 1991. In December 1995, he was arrested by Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) officials in Fargo, North Dakota. The INS issued an order to show cause charging Regalado-Garcia with entering the United States without inspection. Deportation proceedings were held, which Regalado-Garcia did not attend, and a deportation order was entered against him in absentia on September 10, 1996. On January 28, 1997, Regalado-Garcia filed an application for asylum and to withhold removal pursuant to sections 208 and 243(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158, 1253(h) (1994).1 An Immigration Judge denied Regalado-Garcia's application for asylum, withholding of removal, and voluntary departure, and ordered that he be deported to Mexico. Regalado-Garcia appealed to the BIA. On January 14, 2002, the BIA denied his application for asylum and withholding of removal on grounds that he failed to establish past persecution or a well-founded fear or clear probability of persecution in Mexico based on his membership in one of the five protected statutory classes. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(42)(A), 1158, 1253(h) (1994); 8 C.F.R. § 208.13 (2001). The BIA also denied Regalado-Garcia's appeal of the Immigration Judge's denial of his request for voluntary departure under section 244(e) of the INA.2
The proceedings in this case began prior to April 1, 1997, the date on which the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) took effect. IIRIRA, Pub.L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (1996). Generally, IIRIRA's amendments do not apply to deportation proceedings or asylum actions initiated prior to that date. Fisher v. INS, 291 F.3d 491, 496 (8th Cir.2002); Afolayan v. INS, 219 F.3d 784, 787 (8th Cir.2000). Because Regalado-Garcia filed his petition for asylum on January 28, 1997, and the BIA's decision was issued after October 31, 1996, we cite and apply the pre-IIRIRA version of the INA. Fisher, 291 F.3d at 496. Our review is governed by the repealed section 1105a and by transitional rules not relevant to the issues presented on appeal. Menjivar v. INS, 259 F.3d 940, 941 n. 1 (8th Cir.2001).
We review the factual findings underlying the BIA's denial of an appeal under the substantial evidence standard. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992); Tang v. INS, 223 F.3d 713, 718 (8th Cir.2000). We must deny Regalado-Garcia's petition for review if the BIA's finding is supported by "`reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence of the record considered as a whole.'" Menjivar, 259 F.3d at 941 (citing Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. at 481, 112 S.Ct. 812). We review the BIA's legal determinations de novo, "according substantial deference to the [BIA's] interpretation of the statutes and regulations it administers." Tang, 223 F.3d at 718-19.
The Attorney General may confer asylum on any refugee. 8 U.S.C. § 1158; Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. at 481, 112 S.Ct. 812; Francois v. INS, 283 F.3d 926, 930 (8th Cir.2002). To qualify as a refugee, an alien must be outside of his or her country of nationality and "unable or unwilling to return to ... that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion...." 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A); Francois, 283 F.3d at 930.
The BIA also did not find there to be substantial evidence that Regalado-Garcia has a "well-founded fear of persecution" on account of his participation in SUTAUR-100 and MPI. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A). "An alien will be presumed to possess a well-founded fear of future persecution if past persecution is established...." Francois, 283 F.3d at 930. Because past persecution was not established in this case, Regalado-Garcia's fear of future persecution cannot be presumed but must be shown. "The petitioner's fear must not only be actual, it must be objectively reasonable as well, ... the petitioner must show that `a reasonable person in the alien's position would fear persecution if returned to the alien's native country." Menjivar v. INS, 259 F.3d at 941 (citing Ghasemimehr v. INS, 7 F.3d 1389, 1390 (8th Cir.1993)).
Regalado-Garcia has failed to show that his fear of future persecution is well-founded or reasonable. The BIA noted that more than a decade has passed since Regalado-Garcia was an employee of Ruta-100 and an active member of SUTAUR-100 and MPI. He did not maintain any connection with either organization after leaving Mexico. Regalado-Garcia did not present any evidence that his family members, including his brother, an employee of Ruta-100 and founder of SUTAUR-100, have been persecuted or harassed by the Mexican government during this time. The objective reasonableness of Regalado-Garcia's fear of future persecution is undermined further by the changed conditions in Mexico since 1991. See 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(b)(1)(i)(A); Menjivar, 259 F.3d at 942 ("[F]ear of future persecution was not well founded because the events on which it was based occurred a decade ago, [and] because conditions in El Salvador have markedly improved since the peace accords of 1992 ..."). In 1996, the Mexican government reached an agreement with SUTAUR-100, authorizing the union to represent employees of two new bus lines in Mexico City.
Congress revised the withholding of removal provisions, 8 U.S.C. § 1253(h), in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), Pub.L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009-546 (Sept. 30, 1996), as amended by the Extension of Stay in United States for Nurses Act of October 11, 1996, Pub.L. No. 104-302 § 2, 110 Stat. 3656. The withholding provisions are now codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)See INS v. Aguirre-Aguirre, 526 U.S. 415, 420, 119 S.Ct. 1439, 143 L.Ed.2d 590 (1999).
Section 244(e) of the INA, codified at 8 U.S.C. § 1254, was repealed by the IIRIRA. Pub.L. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009-615. We lack jurisdiction to review denial of Regalado-Garcia's request for voluntary departure. The IIRIRA's transitional rules preclude judicial review "of any discretionary decision under section 244 of the [INA]," the provision in question here. IIRIRA § 309(c)(4)(E);Antonio-Cruz v. INS, 147 F.3d 1129, 1130 (9th Cir.1998). A grant of voluntary departure is such a discretionary decision. Shkukani v. INS, 435 F.2d 1378, 1380 (8th Cir.1971).
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