United States Eighth Circuit

In petitions for review of the BIA's denial of petitioners' asylum applications, the petitions are denied where: 1) the murders of petitioners' family members were not persecution within the meaning of 8 U.S.C. section 1101(a)(42)(A) because they were not committed by the government; and 2) petitioners did not claim they were persecuted on account of race, religion, nationality, or political opinion.

Appellate Information

• Decided 01/25/2010
• Published 01/25/2010

Judges

• RILEY, Circuit Judge., Before RILEY, HANSEN, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Paschal Nwokocha, Paschal Nwokocha Law Offices, L.L.C., Minneapolis, MN, for Petitioners.


• For Appellees:
  
• Richard M. Evans, Jessica Segall, Karen Yolanda Drummond, Timothy Hayes, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, Scott Baniecke, U.S. Immigration & Naturalization Service, Bloomington, MN, for Respondent.