Kojo

MEMORANDUM *

Lead Petitioner Renly Novo Kojo (“Kojo”) and his wife Fransisca Fanny Worang (“Worang”), citizens of Indonesia, appeal the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”)- affirmance of the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ”) order denying asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Petitioners’ asylum application was based on persecution allegedly suffered as the result of their membership in the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Worang’s Chinese ethnicity, and Kojo’s light skin color and perceived Chinese ethnicity. The IJ denied the application because he found that Petitioners’ mistreatment in Indonesia did not rise to the level of persecution, and that Petitioners did not establish a well-founded fear of future persecution. The IJ also found that Petitioners’ asylum application was time-barred.

We have jurisdiction under 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . With regard to Petitioners’ asylum claim, we conclude that the IJ and BIA failed properly to address the claim that changed circumstances excused the untimely filing of their application, and we remand to the BIA to address this question in the first instance. With regard to withholding of…