Kasnecovic

FACTS AND PRIOR PROCEEDINGS

Kasnecovic entered the United States on December 22, 1998. At the time of entry she told the Immigration and Natu- ralization Service (INS)1 interviewer that she was born in Montenegro, Yugoslavia, and gave a specific location, includ- ing a zip code equivalent, as her permanent residence in Mon- tenegro. She also told the interviewer that she had two relatives in the United States, an aunt, Osman Kalivori, who lived in Staten Island, New York, and a sister, Dija Kasne- covic, living in Queens, New York.

In December 1999, Kasnecovic applied for Temporary Pro- tected Status (TPS), stating that she was born in Kosovo, Yugoslavia, and was a national of Kosovo Province. The INS denied the application because Kasnecovic failed to establish that she was a national of Kosovo Province, Yugoslavia.

Kasnecovic applied for asylum and withholding of removal on April 20, 2000, sixteen months after she entered the United States. In her original application, she stated that she was born in Kosovo and resided there. She claimed she had suffered past persecution in Kosovo as an ethnic Albanian. In her amended application, filed after her application for TPS status…