Opinion ID: 687688
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Kazlauskas' Asylum Application

Text: 7 A two-step inquiry is required in evaluating an applicant's request for asylum. Barraza Rivera v. INS, 913 F.2d 1443, 1449 (9th Cir.1990). First, the applicant must establish his eligibility for asylum by demonstrating that he meets the statutory definition of a refugee. Id.; 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1158(a) (asylum is only available if the applicant is a refugee as defined by 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(42)(A)). 1 Refugee status may be established by a showing of either past persecution or likely future persecution. Acewicz v. INS, 984 F.2d 1056, 1061-62 (9th Cir.1993); Berroteran-Melendez, 955 F.2d at 1255 & n. 3 (citing Desir v. Ilchert, 840 F.2d 723, 729 (9th Cir.1988)); Matter of Chen, 1989 WL 331860, Interim Dec. 3104, 1989 BIA LEXIS 10, at  4- 6 (B.I.A. Apr. 25, 1989); see 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1101(a)(42)(A) (defining a refugee as one who is unable or unwilling to return to his country of origin because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution) (emphasis added). 8 The second question is whether the eligible applicant is entitled to asylum as a matter of discretion. 8 U.S.C. Sec. 1158(a); 2 INS v. Stevic, 467 U.S. 407, 423 n. 18, 104 S.Ct. 2489, 2497 n. 18, 81 L.Ed.2d 321 (1984); Barraza Rivera, 913 F.2d at 1449. At this second step, prospective questions about the potential effects of the applicant's return to his country of origin again are relevant, even if the applicant established his eligibility for asylum by showing only past persecution. See Matter of Chen, 1989 WL 331860, 1989 BIA LEXIS 10, at  6 ([i]f an alien establishes that ... he is eligible for a grant of asylum[,] [t]he likelihood of present or future persecution then becomes relevant as to the exercise of discretion, and asylum may be denied as a matter of discretion if there is little likelihood of present persecution). 9 While the oral decision of the IJ in this case is not a model of clarity, we conclude that Kazlauskas' request for relief from deportation was properly denied. The IJ's opinion states the correct two-step inquiry and it does address the relevant factors of Kazlauskas' case. 10 The IJ stated that Kazlauskas was statutorily as well as discretionarily ineligible for asylum. We read this statement as a conclusion by the IJ that Kazlauskas demonstrated neither his eligibility nor his entitlement to asylum. We do not decide whether the IJ correctly determined that Kazlauskas was statutorily ineligible for asylum because we conclude that the IJ permissibly found asylum unwarranted as a matter of discretion. 11 In determining whether to grant asylum as a discretionary matter, the likelihood of future persecution is a particularly important factor to consider. See Matter of Pula, 19 I. & N. Dec. 467, 474 (1987). The IJ concluded that Kazlauskas does not have a well-founded fear of persecution if he returns to Lithuania, and we agree. 12 To establish a well-founded fear of persecution, Kazlauskas must show both that he has a genuine fear, and that his fear is objectively reasonable. See Berroteran-Melendez, 955 F.2d at 1256. The IJ exhaustively explained why Kazlauskas could not meet the objective element in light of the dramatic political and social changes in the Baltic Republics. 3 We find substantial evidence to support the IJ's conclusion. 4 The IJ based his analysis on the 1991 State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices, which has been described as the most appropriate and perhaps the best resource for information on political situations in foreign nations. Rojas v. INS, 937 F.2d 186, 190 n. 1 (5th Cir.1991); see also Getachew v. INS, 25 F.3d 841, 847-88 (9th Cir.1994) (disputing BIA's description of the political climate in Ethiopia based on the differing analysis contained in the State Department's country report). The State Department report provided the most up-to-date information about conditions in Lithuania and it described a country that had changed dramatically since the August 1991 failed coup in the Soviet Union. Since then, the Lithuanian authorities had fully assumed the reigns of government, enacted numerous laws to protect individual rights, improved the conditions of Lithuanians who had been imprisoned during Soviet control, and discontinued many of the former Soviet practices of surveillance and control. There had been no reports of conduct by the Lithuanian authorities similar to the repressive and abusive conduct by former Soviet authorities. 13 Absent a likelihood of future persecution, asylum is warranted for humanitarian reasons only if Kazlauskas demonstrates that in the past [he] or his family has suffered 'under atrocious forms of persecution.'  Acewicz, 984 F.2d at 1062 (quoting Matter of Chen, 1989 WL 331860, 1989 BIA LEXIS 10, at  8 (internal quotation omitted)). In Matter of Chen, 1989 WL 331860, the BIA concluded that sufficiently atrocious persecution had been shown where a Chinese Christian had been tortured, harassed, confined, and denied food and medical attention since the age of eight. 1989 WL 331860, 1989 BIA LEXIS 10, at  9- 14. We do not attempt to define the minimum showing of atrocity necessary to warrant a discretionary grant of asylum based on past persecution alone. We merely hold that the IJ did not abuse his discretion by concluding that the harassment and ostracism Kazlauskas suffered is not such atrocious past persecution as to warrant a discretionary grant of asylum. 5 14 If an IJ fails to consider factors that are relevant to the asylum application, it abuses its discretion. Castro-O'Ryan v. INS, 847 F.2d 1307, 1314 (9th Cir.1987). That is not the case here, however. The IJ considered both favorable and unfavorable factors, including the likelihood of persecution if Kazlauskas returns to Lithuania, the severity of Kazlauskas' and his family's past persecution, his alcohol rehabilitation, the circumstances surrounding his departure from Lithuania and his entry into the United States, and his criminal record since he has been in this country. See id. (relevant factors might include applicant's prior convictions, his family's dependence on him, his rehabilitation, and the dangers he is likely to face if returned to his country of origin); Matter of Chen, 1989 WL 331860, 1989 BIA LEXIS 10, at  8; Matter of Pula, 19 I. & N. Dec. at 473-74. Unlike Castro-O'Ryan, 847 F.2d at 1314, in which this court found an abuse of discretion, the IJ's opinion in this case does review the evidence and does not treat Kazlauskas' prior convictions as dispositive. Indeed, the IJ's opinion properly places particular emphasis on the treatment Kazlauskas is likely to face if he returns to Lithuania. See id.; Matter of Pula, 19 I. & N. Dec. at 474. 15