Opinion ID: 145262
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Thevarajah's Withholding of Removal

Text: In denying Thevarajah's withholding of removal, the immigration judge explained that general danger and violence in an alien's country is insufficient to establish eligibility for relief, unless the alien can establish special circumstances that go beyond the general danger affecting everyone. (App. at 123.) Although Petitioners argue that this comment evidenced the immigration judge's error in failing to distinguish between incidents of civil war and persecution in the context of civil war, even if true, this argument is irrelevant. The Board did not abuse its discretion in denying Petitioners' motion to reconsider based on the immigration judge's comment because the immigration judge correctly stated the law. We have stated that generalized conditions affecting large segments of a population do not, by themselves, prove that an individual faces persecution. Capric v. Ashcroft, 355 F.3d 1075, 1084 (7th Cir.2004). Unless an alien can produce evidence that he or she is likely to be singled out for persecution, a generalized condition has no significance. See id. It was Thevarajah's burden to produce this evidence. Because she failed to do so, the distinction between incidents of civil war and persecution in the context of civil war matters little. Thevarajah failed to make the particularized showing necessary to differentiate her circumstances from those facing all Tamils, so the Board was within its discretion in denying reconsideration of this issue.