Yafou v. Gonzales

Filing 920070206

Opinion

UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 06-1766

ZELI NDOUM YAFOU, Petitioner, versus ALBERTO GONZALES, Attorney General, Respondent.

On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. (A98-702-093)

Submitted:

January 10, 2007

Decided:

February 6, 2007

Before WILKINSON, MOTZ, and KING, Circuit Judges.

Petition denied by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Sopo Ngwa, Silver Spring, Maryland, for Petitioner. Rod J. Rosenstein, United States Attorney, Larry D. Adams, Assistant United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland, for Respondent.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit.

PER CURIAM: Zeli Ndoum Yafou, a native and citizen of Cameroon, petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' ("Board") order affirming without opinion the immigration judge's order denying her applications for asylum, withholding of removal and withholding under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT"). Yafou

claims the evidence supports her application for asylum and the immigration judge imposed upon her a higher burden of proof.* deny the petition for review. The Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) authorizes the Attorney General to confer asylum on any refugee. § 1158(a) (2000). 8 U.S.C. We

The INA defines a refugee as a person unwilling

or unable to return to her native 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) (2000). An applicant can

establish refugee status based on past persecution in her native country on account of a protected ground. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(1) (2006). Without regard to past persecution, an alien can establish a well-founded fear of persecution on a protected ground.

Ngarurih v. Ashcroft, 371 F.3d 182, 187 (4th Cir. 2004).

*

Yafou does not challenge the denial of withholding under the - 2 -

CAT.

An

applicant

has

the

burden

of

demonstrating

her

eligibility for asylum.

8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(a) (2006); GandziamiA

Mickhou v. Gonzales, 445 F.3d 351, 353 (4th Cir. 2006).

determination regarding eligibility for asylum is affirmed if supported by substantial evidence on the record considered as a whole. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481 (1992). This

court will reverse the Board "only if the evidence presented was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution." Rusu v. INS, 296 F.3d 316, 325

n.14 (4th Cir. 2002) (internal quotation marks and citations omitted). We find the immigration judge's adverse credibility

finding to be supported by the record. does not compel a different result. petition for review. facts and legal before

Therefore, the evidence Accordingly, we deny the

We dispense with oral argument because the are and adequately argument presented not in aid the the

contentions the court

materials

would

decisional process. PETITION DENIED

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