Ubau-Marenco
Ubau-Marenco v. Immigration & Naturalization Service
Opinion
Lead Opinion
Choy, J.
I.
Dr. Alfredo Cesar Ubau-Marenco, his wife Sandra Zuniga de Ubau-Zuniga, and two of their children (collectively “petitioners”) appeal a final order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). The BIA dismissed their appeal from the Immigration Judge’s order denying their applications for asylum and withholding of deportation. 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158 (a) & 1253(h). Petitioners appeal only the denial of their asylum claims.
Petitioners are natives and citizens of Nicaragua. Petitioners claim that they left Nicaragua in February of 1988 because they were being persecuted by the Sandinista authorities on account of their anti-Communist views. Petitioners assert that because of their political views, they would be subject to persecution should they be forced to return to Nicaragua.
At the deportation hearing, Dr. Ubau-Marenco testified on behalf of the petitioners. In Nicaragua, Dr. Ubau-Marenco’s parents owned a transportation business. But, *753 in 1979, the Sandinista authorities seized the business’ vehicles without compensation. After the seizure, his family continued to own a farm from which it sold rice to the Nicaraguan government. Then, in 1982, Dr. Ubau-Marenco purchased a…