Immigration – asylum — Moldova

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United States Court of Appeals For the Seventh Circuit

Civil

Immigration – asylum — Moldova

The BIA applied the wrong legal standard in concluding that anti-communists from Moldova failed to show past persecution on account of their political beliefs.

“The Board appears to have repeated the immigration judge’s legal error. Though the Board did not say explicitly that the facts would not compel a finding of past persecution, the Board distinguished on factual grounds a case in which we had reversed a finding of no past persecution and held that the facts were indeed so powerful as to ‘compel’ a finding of past persecution. App. 24, citing Asani, 154 F.3d at 722-24. The Board then found guidance from our decision in Dandan in which we held that the abuse of the petitioner in police custody was not so severe as to ‘compel’ a finding of past persecution. App. 24, citing Dandan, 339 F.3d at 573-74. The Board also did not acknowledge the immigration judge’s legal error. The combination of the immigration judge’s application of the wrong standard, the Board’s failure to note the error, and the Board’s citations to Asani and Dandan persuades us that the Board applied the wrong legal standard.”

Petition Granted.

12-2320 Sirbu v. Holder

Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals, Hamilton, J.