Galyautdinov v. Ashcroft

No. 02-72738

US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

2003 US App. LEXIS 25365

The Petitioner, Shamil Galyautdinov, a native and citizen of Russia, challenged the Immigration Court’s denial of asylum and withholding of removal.

The BIA stated that in order to be eligible for asylum, “an applicant must establish a well-founded fear of persecution that is both subjectively genuine and objectively reasonable.”  The BIA reaffirmed the holding in Mgoian v. INS that “the subjective component is satisfied by credible testimony that the applicant genuinely fears persecution; the objective component can be satisfied by either an establishment of past persecution, or a showing that the applicant has ‘a good reason to fear future persecution.’”

Once a petitioner establishes past persecution, a presumption arises that he also has a well-founded fear of future persecution.  The government has the burden of rebutting the presumption, and must show by a preponderance of the evidence that the conditions of the petitioner’s country of nationality have changed such that the petitioner no longer has a well-founded fear of future persecution when he returns.

In this case, the government submitted documentary evidence and the Petitioner’s cross-examination as evidence.  The BIA held that this evidence was insufficient and therefore, the government did not fulfill their burden to rebut the presumption.  The BIA reversed and remanded the decision of the IJ.