Mejia-Lopez v. Barr, No. 18-3651 (8th Cir. 2019)
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The Eighth Circuit denied a petition for review of the BIA's decision denying petitioners' request for humanitarian asylum. Petitioners, seeking asylum for themselves and their children, contend that the district court erred in requiring that they show past persecution on account of a protected ground as a prerequisite for obtaining humanitarian asylum.
The court held that petitioner's argument was foreclosed by this court's existing precedent in Kanagu v. Holder, 781 F.3d 912 (8th Cir. 2015), which held that the petitioner's failure to prove persecution on a protected ground made him ineligible for humanitarian asylum. Therefore, the BIA did not abuse its discretion in denying petitioners' requested relief.
Court Description: Smith, Author, with Beam and Erickson, Circuit Judges] Petition for Review - Immigration. Petitioners' argument that past persecution is not required as a prerequisite for obtaining humanitarian asylum is foreclosed by this court's existing precedents - see e.g., Kanagu v. Holder, 781 F.3d 912 (8th Cir. 2015) - and the agency did not abuse its discretion in denying their request for humanitarian asylum.
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