Arout Melkonian v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General

Petitioner Arout Melkonian (“Melkoni-an”), an ethnic Armenian and a Christian, lived in Abkhazia, an autonomous region within Georgia, from his birth in 1959 until September of 1992, when he fled across the Russian border to escape kid-naping by ethnic-Abkhaz Separatists. He subsequently left Russia and, in early 1994, entered the United States illegally and applied for asylum and withholding of deportation under sections 208(a) and 243(h) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”), 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158 , 1253(h) (1994). The Immigration Judge (“IJ”) denied his application, and the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirmed. Melkonian timely appealed.

I. Governing Law and Standard of Review

To establish eligibility for asylum, an applicant must demonstrate his or her status as a refugee. Sangha v. INS, 103 F.3d 1482, 1487 (9th Cir.1997). A refugee is an alien who is unable or unwilling to return to the country of origin “because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” 8 U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(42)(A) (1994).

Eligibility for asylum based on a well-founded fear of…