Alesia Kazakevich v. Loretta E. Lynch

MEMORANDUM

Alesia Kazakevich, a native of the former USSR and a citizen of Belarus, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) upholding the Immigration Judge’s (“D”) denial of her applications for asylum -and withholding of removal . We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 and deny the petition.

1. The BIA properly upheld the Immigration Judge’s denial of Kazakevich’s application for asylum. Kazakevich entered the United States on May 31, 2001 and filed her asylum application in August 2003. The Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) requires an asylum seeker to file her application within one year of her arrival .in the United States. 8 U.S.C. § 1158 (a)(2)(B). “The 1-year period shall be calculated from the date of the alien’s last arrival in the United States or April 1, 1997, whichever is later.” 8 C.F.R. § 1208.4 (a)(2)(ii). As Kazakevich filed her application more than two years after she entered the United States in 2001, her application is untimely.

Kazakevich- asserts she is entitled to an exception to the one-year deadline due to the extraordinary circumstance of ineffective assistance of counsel. See 8 C.F.R. § 208.4…