Tilahun Fantaye Desta v. John Ashcroft, Attorney General

We review a denial of asylum for petitioner Tilahun Fantaye Desta. Desta applied for asylum after leaving Ethiopia, where he claims to have been beaten and imprisoned for his participation in two political groups that oppose the Ethiopian government. The Immigration Judge (“IJ”) found Desta not credible and denied his application. The Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirmed. Desta timely petitioned this court for a review of the BIA’s decision. Because the BIA’s decision (and the IJ’s decision underlying it) is supported by substantial evidence, we deny Desta’s petition for review.

In addition to denying Desta’s application for asylum, the IJ granted Desta a sixty-day voluntary departure period, beginning on the date of his decision on Desta’s application for asylum. The BIA then renewed the voluntary departure, period, granting Desta thirty days to depart, now beginning on the date of the BlA’s decision. Twenty-five days after the BIA’s decision, Desta moved in this court for a stay of removal. The government filed a statement of non-opposition, and we continued the temporary stay of removal pursuant to this circuit’s General Order 6.4(c). Desta later filed a motion to…