Edionseri v. Sessions, No. 16-3421 (8th Cir. 2017)
Annotate this CasePetitioner, a native and citizen of Nigeria, sought review of the denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT). The Eighth Circuit agreed with the IJ and the BIA that the harms petitioner described were not persecution because they were not inflicted by the government or private parties that the government was not able to control. In this case, petitioner asserted that supernatural forces inflicted much of the harm; to the extent petitioner asserted that the Nigerian government was unable or unwilling to control the devil's human agents, substantial evidence showed otherwise; substantial evidence supported the agency's determination that petitioner had no objectively reasonable fear of future persecution; and, given the record evidence showing the government's efforts to curtail the torture of suspected witches and wizards, substantial evidence supported the agency's denial of petitioner's request for CAT relief. Accordingly, the court denied the petition for review.
Court Description: Arnold, Author, with Wollman and Gruender, Circuit Judges] Petition for Review - Immigration. Harms allegedly suffered through the actions of supernatural forces are not persecution; to the extent petitioner alleged the Nigerian government was unable or unwilling to control the devil's human agents, the evidence does not support this contention as the police regularly responded to his calls for assistance and followed regular police procedures in dealing with the situations; substantial evidence also supported the agency's determination that petitioner did not have a reasonably objective fear of future persecution by the government or someone the government was unwilling or unable to control, as the government has made progress in curbing wizard torture and this, with other evidence, demonstrates that petitioner is less likely to be persecuted today than he would have been ten years or so ago when he lived in Nigeria and was labeled a wizard. [ June 23, 2017
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