Karpachov

MEMORANDUM ***

We have jurisdiction under former 8 U.S.C. § 1105a(a), and we deny the petition.

It was proper for the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) to rely on a 1994 U.S. State Department report that presented a profile of the current political conditions within Russia. 1 We hold that the material contained within this report, which the BIA carefully scrutinized, constitutes substantial evidence to support the BIA’s conclusion that Petitioner no longer has a well-founded fear of future persecution in the former Soviet Union. 2 We see nothing in the record that compels the opposite conclusion.

Contrary to Petitioner’s argument, the BIA did not fail to consider the numerous news reports that he submitted in support of his asylum application. The BIA simply found that those news reports were not sufficiently relevant to the question of whether Petitioner has a well-founded fear of future persecution in the former Soviet Union. Moreover, because Petitioner did not meet this threshold requirement for asylum, he can not meet the higher burden for withholding of deportation under former 8 U.S.C. § 1253 (h)(1).

We also hold that the BIA did not abuse its discretion by…