Alavez-Hernandez, et al v. Holder, Jr., No. 12-1940 (8th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CasePetitioners, married Mexican citizens, petitioned for review of the denial of their applications for withholding of removal. After seeing petitioners' fathers associating with Evangelical Christians, Catholic villagers began threatening and attacking members of their families in the streets of the village. The court concluded that petitioners have not proven that the conditions in the village rose to the level of persecution, even when the conditions there were viewed together with the street attacks; petitioners could avoid any future persecution in Mexico by relocating to Oaxaca City; and petitioners' relocation to Oaxaca City to avoid possible persecution would be reasonable where petitioners' arguments regarding their lack of savings and the limited employment opportunities in Oaxaca City were unpersuasive. Accordingly, the court denied the petition.
Court Description: Petition for Review - Immigration. Immigration Judge and the BIA did not err in concluding that the physical attacks plaintiffs suffered in their home village had not been severe enough to rise to the level of persecution because they were not life threatening; nor did the other detrimental conditions they suffered as Evangelical Christians, such as denial of services, rise to the level of persecution; even if the petitioners had suffered past persecution, they were not entitled to withholding of removal because they could avoid future persecution by reasonably relocating to a larger city, such as Oaxaca City, where their families relocated.
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