Aleksanyan v. Gonzales
Aleksanyan v. Gonzales
Opinion of the Court
MEMORANDUM
Petitioner Tamara Aleksanyan and her son Rafik Isahakyan are natives and citizens of Armenia. They petition for review of a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) summarily affirming an immigration judge’s (IJ) denial of their application for asylum.
Substantial evidence supports the IJ’s finding that Petitioners failed to establish a nexus between the events that happened
Assuming that these events qualify as past persecution, on this record we are not compelled to find that the events were connected to each other or to a political opinion, actual or imputed, of the lead Petitioner, notwithstanding her sincere belief. See id. at 865-67 (discussing evidence and noting that a sincere belief that there is a connection between an event and a protected ground is not, by itself, sufficient to establish nexus). The assassins’ motives were unclear; the lead Petitioner did not recognize any of the people involved in the events that involved her and her son; and she did not know why any of the events occurred. Under the circumstances, our standard of review requires us to deny the petition.
PETITION DENIED.
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and may not be cited to or by the courts of this circuit except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. Alberto Gonzales is substituted for his predecessor, John Ashcroft, as Attorney General. Fed. R.App. P. 43(c)(2).
. The petition for review was timely filed because the BIA failed to mail its final decision to the correct address. See Martinez-Serrano v. INS, 94 F.3d 1256, 1258-59 (9th Cir. 1996) (holding that the time for filing a petition for review begins to run when the BIA mails the decision to the address of record).
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