Opinion
No. 08-2983.
Submitted: December 2, 2009.
Filed: December 7, 2009.
Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals.
John G. Vah, Elk River, MN, pro se.
Scott Baniecke, U.S. Immigration Naturalization Service, Bloomington, MN, Karen Yolanda Drummond, Richard M. Evans, Sada Manickam, Anthony W. Norwood, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Office of Immigration Litigation, Washington, DC, for Respondent.
Before WOLLMAN, RILEY, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
[UNPUBLISHED]
John G. Vah, a native and citizen of Liberia, petitions for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which affirmed an immigration judge's denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). We conclude substantial evidence supports the BIA's determination that Vah did not meet his burden of proof for asylum because he was not subjected to past persecution in Liberia and he does not have a well-founded fear of future persecution in Liberia. See Khrystotodorov v. Mukasey, 551 F.3d 775, 781 (8th Cir. 2008) (standard of review); Uli v. Mukasey, 533 F.3d 950, 956 (8th Cir. 2008) (past persecution); Vonhm v. Gonzales, 454 F.3d 825, 826-27 (8th Cir. 2006) (well-founded fear of future persecution). Vah's withholding-of-removal and CAT claims — which carry more rigorous burdens of proof — necessarily fail as well, see Gitimu v. Holder, 581 F.3d 769, 774 (8th Cir. 2009), and Vah did not meet his burden for a grant of humanitarian asylum, see Francois v. INS, 283 F.3d 926, 932 (8th Cir. 2002).
Accordingly, Vah's petition for review is denied.