Opinions of the United
2008 Decisions States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit
6-13-2008
Muja v. Atty Gen USA
Precedential or Non-Precedential: Non-Precedential
Docket No. 07-1951
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NOT PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
___________
No. 07-1951
___________
JAHIR MUJAH,
Petitioner
v.
ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES,
Respondent
___________________________________
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
(Agency No. A98-113-382 )
Immigration Judge: Honorable Henry S. Dogin
____________________________________
Submitted Pursuant to Third Circuit LAR 34.1(a)
JUNE 12, 2008
Before: SLOVITER, STAPLETON AND COWEN, Circuit Judges
(Opinion filed: June 13, 2008)
___________
OPINION
___________
PER CURIAM
Jahir Muja petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”)
order dismissing his appeal from the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his applications
for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture
(“CAT”). For the reasons set forth below, we will deny the petition for review.
Muja is nineteen years old and is a native and citizen of Albania. Muja entered the
United States without inspection on April 15, 2004, and, several days later, was served
with a Notice to Appear charging him as an alien present in the United States without
being admitted or paroled. See INA § 212(a)(6)(A)(i) (8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i)). In
response, Muja submitted applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief
under the CAT on the ground that he was in danger from the Albanian mafia. Muja
explained that in 2002, his uncle, Xhevahir Lita, had been the lead prosecutor in a case
against the mafia. After the trial, the mafia leader threatened Lita and his family. Then,
one day in 2004, a car pulled up beside him as he was walking home from school, and
two men tried, unsuccessfully, to pull him into the car. Muja believes that the men were
members of the mafia, and that they sought to kidnap him in retaliation for his uncle’s
role in the 2002 trial. Muja stated that he cannot return to Albania because the mafia is
still looking for him and his family.
At his September 13, 2005 removal hearing, Muja repeated the allegations in his
application, and produced a police report from the 2004 incident outside his school. This
report, however, characterized the incident as an attempted robbery. When questioned
about this inconsistency, Muja stated that he thought “it was the same thing.” (A.R. at p.
000095.) Muja stated that after he left the country, his parents and brothers moved to
another city in Albania, and his uncle relocated to a different district in the north. Since
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that time, no one has attempted to abduct or otherwise threaten any of his family
members.
Following the hearing, IJ Henry S. Dogin denied Muja’s applications for relief.
The IJ found that, “[f]earing harm and possible past harm because one is connected with a
family member who prosecuted an individual does not fit within any of the parameters of
the asylum law.” (A.R. at p. 000046.) For the same reason, the IJ found that Muja’s
allegations did not entitle him to withholding of removal or relief under the CAT. By
order issued March 6, 2007, the BIA affirmed the IJ’s decision. The present petition for
review followed.
We have jurisdiction to review final orders of removal pursuant to 8 U.S.C. §
1252(a)(1). See Abdulai v. Ashcroft, 239 F.3d 542, 548 (3d Cir. 2001). We review the
BIA’s decision for substantial evidence. See Abdille v. Ashcroft, 242 F.3d 477, 483-84
(3d Cir. 2001). Under this standard, we will uphold the Board’s findings unless the
evidence not only supports a contrary conclusion, but compels it. See id.
In order to obtain asylum, Muja was required to show that he is “unable or
unwilling to return to [Albania] . . . 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); 8 U.S.C. § 1158. To obtain
withholding of removal, he had to demonstrate that it is more likely than not that his life
would be threatened in Albania based on one of these protected grounds. 8 U.S.C. §
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1231(b)(3)(A). For relief under the CAT, Muja was required to demonstrate that it is
more likely than not that he would be tortured if removed to Albania. 8 C.F.R. §
208.16(c)(2).
Upon review, we conclude that substantial evidence supports the BIA’s decision
denying Muja’s claims for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the CAT.
First, with respect to Muja’s claims for asylum, the BIA correctly concluded that Muja
failed to establish past persecution because he did not show a sufficient link between the
alleged attempted kidnapping and his uncle’s prosecution of a member of the mafia; the
only evidence submitted in support of his allegations was the police report, which stated
that the incident was an attempted robbery rather than a kidnapping, and made no
reference to the mafia.1 For this reason, we also agree with the BIA that Muja was not
entitled to withholding of removal. See 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A). Finally, because Muja
did not establish that he was tortured in the past, or that it was likely that he would be
tortured should he return home, the BIA correctly concluded that he did not meet the
criteria for relief under the CAT. See 8 C.F.R. § 208.16(c)(2).
For the foregoing reasons, and because we conclude that Muja’s remaining
arguments are without merit, we will deny the petition for review.
1
Furthermore, as the IJ explained, this isolated incident does not amount to
“persecution” within the meaning of the statute. See Lie v. Ashcroft, 396 F.3d 530, 536
(3d Cir. 2005) (holding that “two isolated criminal acts, perpetrated by unknown
assailants, which resulted only in the theft of some personal property and a minor injury,
[are] not sufficiently severe to be considered persecution”).
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