United States Court of Appeals For the Eighth Circuit ___________________________ No. 22-1124 ___________________________ Faisal Abdullahi Yusuf Petitioner v. Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General of the United States Respondent ____________ Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals ____________ Submitted: October 18, 2022 Filed: December 23, 2022 [Unpublished] ____________ Before LOKEN, GRUENDER, and GRASZ, Circuit Judges. ____________ PER CURIAM. Faisal Yusuf petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision affirming the immigration judge’s (“IJ”) denial of his application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We deny his petition for review. Yusuf is a native and citizen of Somalia and a member of the Asharaf tribe, a minority clan in Somalia. Yusuf’s father was a police chief in Mogadishu in the 1980s and 1990s and worked for the former Siad Barre regime. Yusuf’s father was killed when civil war started in Somalia, but Yusuf escaped, eventually coming to the United States as a refugee in 1999. Yusuf has five children, all of whom are citizens of the United States. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and alcohol addiction. He has several criminal convictions spanning from 2005 through 2019, including driving under the influence, domestic violence, disorderly conduct, trespassing, criminal mischief, and violating a no-contact order. In 2020, the Department of Homeland Security commenced removal proceedings against Yusuf. He petitioned for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under CAT. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1158, 1231(b)(3)(A); 8 C.F.R. § 208.16(c). The IJ denied his petition, and the BIA affirmed. Yusuf appeals. “We review the BIA’s decision, as it is the final agency action, but to the extent that the BIA adopted the findings or reasoning of the IJ, we also review the IJ’s decision as part of the final agency action.” Gutierrez–Vidal v. Holder, 709 F.3d 728, 731-32 (8th Cir. 2013) (internal quotation marks omitted). We review legal determinations de novo, Agha v. Holder, 743 F.3d 609, 614 (8th Cir. 2014), and accept the agency’s factual findings “unless any reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude to the contrary,” 8 U.S.C. § 1252(b)(4)(B). Further, we review “decisions on asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT protection under the substantial evidence standard, upholding the decision if it is supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence based on the record as a whole.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). We begin with the BIA’s denial of Yusuf’s application for asylum. “Any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the United States . . . may apply for asylum . . . .” 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a)(1). “The Secretary of Homeland Security or the Attorney General may grant asylum to an alien” if the alien qualifies as a refugee under § 1101(a)(42)(A). § 1158(b)(1)(A) (emphasis added); see also -2- Feleke v. I.N.S., 118 F.3d 594, 597 (8th Cir. 1997) (“An application for asylum is a matter statutorily vested in the discretion of the Attorney General, acting through the …
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