Opinion ID: 46218
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Spousal Separation Claim

Text: 38 Senait and Dawit assert that they are entitled to asylum as a married couple for the persecution they will suffer on account of their membership in a protected social group, that of inter-ethnic married couples. The persecution they claim is forced separation, to wit, that Senait cannot live with Dawit in Ethiopia and Dawit allegedly cannot live with Senait in Eritrea. The Board dismissed this claim of persecution, stating that [t]he cases cited by the respondents regarding the consideration of spousal separation are not relevant to this case. Not every action we would regard as unjust or unlawful amounts to persecution. 39 The Board's conclusion is correct. There is no legal authority that compels asylum for married couples where deportation could separate them, and the Board found that Senait and Dawit had not in any event proven removal would cause them to be separated. As they did before the Board, Petitioners rely on three cases to support their contention that spousal separation is persecution. See Kalubi v. Ashcroft, 364 F.3d 1134, 1141 (9th Cir.2004); Ma v. Ashcroft, 361 F.3d 553, 561 (9th Cir.2004); Carrete-Michel v. INS, 749 F.2d 490, 494 (8th Cir.1984). We agree with the Board that they are all distinguishable. Kalubi dealt with discretionary entitlement, as opposed to legal eligibility, for asylum. See 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(A) (Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General may grant asylum to an alien who has applied for asylum.); INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421, 444, 107 S.Ct. 1207, 1219, 94 L.Ed.2d 434 (1987) (stating that aliens who can only show a well-founded fear of persecution are not entitled to anything, but are eligible for the discretionary relief of asylum). The BIA denied Kalubi asylum on discretionary grounds because it believed he lacked credibility. The Ninth Circuit reversed, holding, inter alia, that if an alien is credible for purposes of eligibility, he cannot be held incredible for purposes of discretionary entitlement. Kalubi, 364 F.3d at 1138-39. Also, construing a pertinent regulation, the Ninth Circuit held only that spousal separation is a factor the BIA must consider once it deems an alien eligible for asylum; the court did not hold that spousal separation is related to eligibility. 40 Similarly, Carrete-Michel did not deal with eligibility for asylum, but instead involved a Mexican national who sought suspension of deportation by demonstrating extreme hardship, through his longstanding ties to the United States and the separation he would face from his family. Carrete-Michel, 749 F.2d at 492. This finding compelled the Attorney General to suspend deportation under pre-IIRIRA law. Id.; see also 8 U.S.C. § 1254(a)(1) (repealed). 13 Carrete-Michel reflects a longstanding immigration policy of favoring aliens who have ties to United States citizens or lawful permanent residents (LPR), see 8 U.S.C. § 1153(a). This policy is entirely distinct from the definition of persecution under other immigration provisions. 41 Finally, petitioners rely on Ma v. Ashcroft, a case involving a husband's asylum claim based on his wife's forced abortion in China. For this particularized form of persecution, Congress has specifically provided a remedy in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(B). That a wife's forced sterilization is persecution to the husband under this law, Matter of C-Y-Z, 21 I. & N. Dec. 915, 917-18, 1997 WL 353222 (BIA 1997), does not mean that a country persecutes a husband by forbidding his wife to live with him in that country. 42 Although the United States supports marriage and family reunification, it does not follow that because two aliens may not be able to live together in their home countries, they are persecuted. This country denies entry to some foreign nationals who marry a United States citizen, see 8 U.S.C. § 1182, and allows the removal of the spouse of a U.S. citizen or LPR under certain conditions, see 8 U.S.C. § 1227. While the BIA may determine that spousal separation, in appropriate circumstances, constitutes persecution, it did not so find here. 43 The Board found, and the record fully supports, that Dawit could not have been persecuted by his wife's expulsion to Eritrea, as he was by that time living in South Africa, had not officially registered their marriage, and was not connected to the expulsion. The Board also found that the couple have not proven their inability to live together in Eritrea. The Board cited in support of this finding three facts: (1) Dawit and Senait never inquired officially about the possibility of returning there together; (2) the expert's affidavit only indicates that there is much resentment against Ethiopians in Eritrea; and (3) Dawit would have trouble finding employment. The first and third findings are unassailable. The second finding understates the appellants' expert's affidavit, which goes to some length detailing the discrimination that might befall both Senait and Dawit in Eritrea due to lingering prejudice against their ethnically mixed marriage. But predictions of possibilities do not support a well-founded fear of persecution, nor, as we have noted, does discrimination alone amount to persecution. Petitioners have not demonstrated that the Board's findings must be overturned.