Opinion
No. 07-73069 Agency No. A095-634-509 Agency No. A097-361-020 Agency No. A097-361-021
09-15-2011
MOHAMMED IBRAHIM; YASMIN FAUZIA; ABIDUR RAHMAN, Petitioners, v. ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
MEMORANDUM
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Argued and Submitted September 2, 2011
Pasadena, California
Before: SCHROEDER and GOULD, Circuit Judges, and MCCUSKEY, Chief District Judge.
The Honorable Michael Patrick McCuskey, Chief United States District Judge for the Central District of Illinois, sitting by designation.
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Mohammed Ibrahim, his wife Yasmin Fauzia, and their son Abidur Rahman (collectively "Petitioners"), natives and citizens of Bangladesh, petition for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals adopting and affirming an Immigration Judge's ("IJ") denial of Petitioners' applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. Petitioners asserted fear of future persecution on account of Yasmin's conversion to Christianity.
Yasmin was found not to be eligible for asylum because she filed years after the passage of the one-year deadline. See 8 C.F.R. § 1208.4(a)(2)(i)(A). She contends that she has demonstrated "changed" or "extraordinary" circumstances pursuant to 8 C.F.R. § 1208.4(a)(4)-(5), justifying the delay.
The IJ made an adverse credibility finding with respect to her assertion that she converted to Christianity. Yasmin converted nearly ten years after arriving in the United States and a few months after the initiation of her husband's removal proceedings. The IJ's adverse credibility finding is supported by substantial evidence. Not only was the timing of the alleged conversion suspicious, but Yasmin could not state the correct name of the church she said that she attended. Her stated reasons for converting to Christianity supported the IJ's conclusion that she converted only to stay in the United States and not because of her religious belief.
Substantial evidence also supports the IJ's determination that Yasmin has failed to establish a clear probability that she will be persecuted in Bangladesh. Neither the country reports nor the alleged threatening letters support her claim. The letters, which Yasmin claims show that a fatwa was issued against her in retaliation for her conversion, were written before her alleged conversion and bore no indication of having been mailed from Bangladesh.
The petition for review is DENIED.