UNPUBLISHED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT No. 17-1403 LARISSA BRIGITTE CARMELLE MBALLA BOUBA NEE JOSEPH, Petitioner, v. JEFFERSON B. SESSIONS III, Attorney General, Respondent. On Petition for Review of an Order of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Argued: March 20, 2018 Decided: July 24, 2018 Before GREGORY, Chief Judge, and WILKINSON and AGEE, Circuit Judges. Petition denied by unpublished opinion. Judge Wilkinson wrote the opinion, in which Judge Agee joined. Chief Judge Gregory wrote a dissenting opinion. ARGUED: John Franklin Hester, Jr., MCCOPPIN & ASSOCIATES, P.A., Cary, North Carolina, for Petitioner. Christina Petersen Greer, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. ON BRIEF: Richard Andrew McCoppin, MCCOPPIN & ASSOCIATES, P.A., Cary, North Carolina, for Petitioner. Chad A. Readler, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Terri J. Scadron, Assistant Director, Corey L. Farrell, Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D.C., for Respondent. Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. WILKINSON, Circuit Judge: Larissa Brigitte Carmelle Mballa Bouba née Joseph, an Apostolic Christian of Haitian parentage from the Central African Republic, sought asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture based on her fear of ethnic and religious persecution in her home country. An immigration judge found her testimony credible, but concluded that corroborating evidence was necessary to grant her requests and ordered her removed. The Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed Mballa Bouba’s appeal. We deny her petition for review. I. Mballa Bouba is a native and citizen of the Central African Republic. Because her parents were from Haiti, Mballa Bouba’s appearance is unlike other Central Africans. Her husband is also a member of a minority ethnic group. Both Mballa Bouba and her husband are Apostolic Christians. Roughly 80% of Central Africans are Christians, but only 10% are Apostolic. Between 10% and 15% of Central Africans are Muslims. Séléka is a predominantly Muslim militia group that has killed Christians in the Central African Republic. Although now formally disbanded, Séléka participated in a civil war that lasted from 2012 to 2014. Some of its members remain active, mostly in northern and eastern areas of the country. In March 2013, Mballa Bouba says Séléka fighters entered her neighborhood to attack local men, causing her husband to flee. In November, Mballa Bouba says two armed, uniformed men shouted at her to stop praying. She believed they were members of Séléka and interpreted their words as a threat. She was not harmed, but immediately 2 called her husband to discuss the incident. About one week later, French forces expelled Séléka fighters from the area. Mballa Bouba and her family then fled to Cameroon, where they registered as refugees and settled in a refugee camp. In January 2014, Mballa Bouba’s father died in North Carolina. She obtained a visitor visa to attend his funeral, and entered the United States on February 7. She remained here after the visa expired on August 6. Mballa Bouba’s husband and four of her children continued to ...
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