Negoescu

MEMORANDUM **

Petitioners Valeriu Negoescu, his wife, and daughter, all Romanian nationals, fled claimed persecution in Romania and sought asylum in France in 1990. The French government granted petitioners refugee status and gave them resident cards that allowed them to live and work in France, obtain government-sponsored health care, attend public schools, and travel freely in and out of the country. The cards were valid for eleven years.

In May 1993, petitioners traveled to the United States and remained here until the Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated removal proceedings against them in November 1999. Petitioners conceded removability, but requested asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Alternatively, they sought voluntary departure.

The immigration judge (“IJ”) denied asylum, finding that petitioners had firmly resettled in France. He also denied withholding of removal because petitioners failed to demonstrate that they would more likely than not be persecuted if removed. 1 Because there was no evidence that petitioners were tortured, prosecuted, or mistreated during their three-year stay in France, the IJ…