Keyrupyan v. Attorney General

226 F. App'x 173
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedMarch 28, 2007
Docket06-1330
StatusUnpublished

This text of 226 F. App'x 173 (Keyrupyan v. Attorney General) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keyrupyan v. Attorney General, 226 F. App'x 173 (3d Cir. 2007).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

LOURIE, Circuit Judge.

Cynthia Patricia Keyrupyan (“Keyrupyan”) petitions for review of a decision and order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (the “Board”) affirming without opinion the decision by the Immigration Judge (“IJ”) that denied Keyrupyan’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. Because substantial evidence supports the IJ’s determination, we will deny the petition for review.

Keyrupyan was born in Indonesia in 1974 and is a Christian of Chinese ethnicity. She entered the United States at San Francisco, California, on or about September 10, 2001 as a B-l non-immigrant visitor. She submitted an application for asylum on December 26, 2001. She remains in the United States and is not currently detained.

The IJ held hearings on Keyrupyan’s claim on January 22, 2003 and April 19, 2004, and Keyrupyan was the only witness. In support of her claim of past persecution and fear of future persecution based upon her religion and ethnicity, Keyrupyan testified as to three incidents. First, she testified that she had been punched while taking public transportation home from school as a child, as well as suffering other incidents due to her Chinese ethnicity. Second, Keyrupyan described an incident at her church in Indonesia on Christmas Eve in 1998. As a number of the worshipers were leaving the church to go to dinner together, a bomb that had been placed in the car of her mother’s friend exploded. As a result of the injuries from the bomb, the friend’s legs had to be amputated. Keyrupyan was originally supposed to ride in that same car but decided to ride with others and so avoided injury. Third, she stated that in January of 2000, a native Indonesian motorcyclist in Jakarta had hit her while she was crossing the street, causing injuries to her legs that required treatment at a hospital. The motorcyclist only laughed and insulted her rather than *175 offering assistance. She also testified that her fear reached its height at the time of the riots in 1998, and that she believes that the same people who caused the riots continue to commit violence now. Her parents and two siblings remain in Indonesia.

The IJ issued an oral decision on April 19, 2004. The IJ determined that Keyrupyan was a credible witness. However, the IJ determined that the incidents described by Keyrupyan were not sufficient to establish past persecution. The IJ also determined that Keyrupyan had not established a likelihood that she would be singled out for future persecution or that the level of violence against Chinese Christians rose to the level of a general pattern or pervasive practice of persecution. The IJ relied upon statements indicating improvement in the relations between Christians and Muslims in Indonesia in the Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2003. The IJ concluded that Keyrupyan did not have a basis for a well-founded fear of future persecution.

Having found that Keyrupyan did not meet the burden of proof for asylum, the IJ concluded that she could not meet the stricter standard for withholding of removal. The IJ also found that Keyrupyan had not met the burden of proof for relief under the Convention Against Torture.

The Board affirmed the IJ’s decision without opinion on December 28, 2005, making the IJ’s decision the final agency determination. Keyrupyan timely appealed, and we have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252.

When the Board affirms the IJ’s decision without opinion, the Court reviews the IJ’s decision directly. Dia v. Ashcroft, 353 F.3d 228, 245 (3d Cir.2003) (en banc). “[T]he administrative findings of fact are conclusive unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary.” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B). This Court has interpreted this provision to mean that the agency must support its findings with substantial evidence. Dia, 353 F.3d at 247. “If a reasonable fact finder could make a particular finding on the administrative record, then the finding is supported by substantial evidence. Conversely, if no reasonable fact finder could make that finding on the administrative record, the finding is not supported by substantial evidence.” Id. at 249.

The Attorney General has the power to grant asylum to a person who qualifies as a refugee. 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1). A refugee is “any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality ... and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of 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). “The applicant may qualify as a refugee either because he or she has suffered past persecution or because he or she has a well-founded fear of future persecution,” and establishing past persecution entitles the applicant to a presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b).

This Court has defined persecution as “threats to life, confinement, torture, and economic restrictions so severe that they constitute a threat to life or freedom.” Lie v. Ashcroft, 396 F.3d 530, 536 (3d Cir.2005) (quoting Fatin v. INS, 12 F.3d 1233,1240 (3d Cir.1993)).

To establish a well-founded fear of future persecution an applicant must first demonstrate a subjective fear of persecution through credible testimony that her fear is genuine. Zubeda v. Ashcroft, 333 F.3d 463, 469 (3d Cir.2003). Second, the applicant must show, objectively, *176 that “a reasonable person in the alien’s circumstances would fear persecution if returned to the country in question.” Id. To satisfy the objective prong, a petitioner must show she would be individually singled out for persecution or demonstrate that “there is a pattern or practice in his or her country of nationality ... of persecution of a group of persons similarly situated to the applicant on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion....” 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(b)(2)(iii)(A).

Id. at 536.

On petition for review, Keyrupyan argues that her testimony established eligibility for asylum based on past persecution on account of her ethnicity and religion.

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226 F. App'x 173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keyrupyan-v-attorney-general-ca3-2007.