United States First Circuit

Petition for review of decision denying asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) and granting voluntary departure to Greek Orthodox Christian petitioner from Lebanon is denied where: 1) court lacked jurisdiction to review the agency's determination regarding the timeliness of the asylum application or its application of the "extraordinary circumstances" exception, unless the petitioner identified a legal or constitutional defect in the decision; 2) in his asylum claim, having failed to establish past persecution, petitioner was not entitled to a presumption of future persecution; and 3) having suffered no past persecution, based on substantial evidence on record, the IJ and BIA correctly concluded that petitioner failed to show that he was likely to face persecution or torture upon return to his home country.

Appellate Information

• Decided 10/01/2008
• Published 10/01/2008

Judges

Court

• United States First Circuit

Counsel