United States Eighth Circuit

A petition for review of a denial of an asylum claim by Somalian citizen is granted where: 1) petitioner did not waive her asylum claim under the fugitive disentitlement doctrine when she departed in compliance with IJ and BIA order and her pursuit of legal remedies while in Canada does not frustrate execution of judgment; 2) female genital mutilation rises to level of persecution and was performed on account of her gender and thus sge satisfied burden of showing past persecution; 3) the BIA failed to shift the burden of proof to the government to show that a change of conditions eliminated petitioner's fear of future persecution; and 4) necessarily, a derivative asylum claim required a remand.

Appellate Information

• Decided 05/07/2007
• Published 05/07/2007

Judges

• SMITH, Circuit Judge., Before WOLLMAN, SMITH, and BENTON, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Michele Garnett McKenzie, F. Matthew Ralph, Dorsey & Whitney, Minneapolis, MN, for Petitioner.


• For Appellees:
  
• Joanne E. Johnson, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, for Respondent.