United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit No. 18-1470 MICHAEL MACHARIA ZHAKIRA, Petitioner, v. WILLIAM P. BARR, United States Attorney General, Respondent. PETITION FOR REVIEW OF AN ORDER OF THE BOARD OF IMMIGRATION APPEALS Before Lynch, Circuit Judge, Souter, Associate Justice, and Lipez, Circuit Judge. John J. Loscocco, with whom Ashley M. Barkoudah and Barker, Epstein & Loscocco were on brief, for petitioner. Sharon M. Clay, with whom Joseph H. Hunt, Assistant Attorney General; Carl McIntyre, Assistant Director, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation; and Nancy E. Friedman, Senior Litigation Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Immigration Litigation, were on brief, for appellee. October 2, 2020 Hon. David H. Souter, Associate Justice (Ret.) of the Supreme Court of the United States, sitting by designation. LIPEZ, Circuit Judge. Petitioner Michael Macharia Zhakira, a native and citizen of Kenya, seeks review of a final order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ("BIA") denying his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture ("CAT"). An immigration judge ("IJ") concluded that Zhakira failed to establish either a well- founded fear of persecution based on a protected ground, as required for asylum and withholding of removal, or the likelihood of officially sanctioned torture, required for CAT relief. The BIA dismissed the appeal and, after granting Zhakira's motion for reconsideration, reaffirmed its initial ruling. Zhakira asserts that the IJ and BIA erred, inter alia, in finding that terror attacks in Kenya by the group Al-Shabaab constituted generalized violence and in rejecting his proposed social group of westernized/Americanized Christian Kenyans who oppose Al-Shabaab. Finding Zhakira's contentions unavailing, we deny his petition for review. I. A. Factual Background Zhakira arrived in the United States in 2005 to participate in a dairy farming exchange program. He overstayed his visa after completing the program because he could not afford to travel home. Zhakira is not married, but he has three children who are United States citizens. - 2 - In 2014, after Zhakira was placed in removal proceedings, he sought asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the CAT.1 In an affidavit submitted with his application, Zhakira stated that he sought asylum "because I fear political and religious persecution in Kenya by Al-Shabaab terrorists on account of my Christianity and my support for the efforts of Kenya and the US against Al-Shabaab." He further noted that, "[a]s a person present in the US for over ten years, who has American children, I will be closely associated with the USA, further increasing the risk of my being harmed by Al-Shabaab terrorists." At his immigration hearing in 2016, Zhakira reported that he grew up as a Presbyterian Christian, regularly attending church, and that he continued to practice his religion in the United States. He became worried about returning to Kenya after a series of widely publicized terrorist attacks by Al-Shabaab. Zhakaira testified that in at least two of the attacks -- at a Nairobi mall, where sixty-seven people were killed, and ...
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