United States Eighth Circuit

In a petition for review of the BIA's denial of petitioner's application for withholding of removal, the petition is granted where: 1) the court could not say the record shows more than periodic instances of mistreatment that did not rise to the level of persecution and other incidents that could not be clearly connected to a protected ground; 2) the court could not tell from the BIA's opinion whether it considered petitioner's political activities after he left the Congo; and 3) the BIA's pattern and practice analysis failed to account for the risks petitioner argued he would face as an actual or imputed political dissident.

Appellate Information

• Decided 09/14/2010
• Published 09/14/2010

Judges

• Michael J. Melloy

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel