Case: 18-14259 Date Filed: 09/05/2019 Page: 1 of 10 [DO NOT PUBLISH] IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT ________________________ No. 18-14259 Non-Argument Calendar ________________________ Agency No. A216-362-955 STEPAN LEPETIUK, Petitioner, versus U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL, Respondent. ________________________ Petition for Review of a Decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals ________________________ (September 5, 2019) Before WILSON, JORDAN and HULL, Circuit Judges. PER CURIAM: Case: 18-14259 Date Filed: 09/05/2019 Page: 2 of 10 Stepan Lepetiuk seeks review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision denying his petition for asylum and withholding of removal. The BIA concluded that Mr. Lepetiuk failed to establish a fear of persecution on account of one of the protected grounds set forth in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(a). Mr. Lepetiuk argues that the BIA’s decision should be reversed because the two cases used to deny him asylum in fact support a grant of relief, and because he sufficiently showed that he was persecuted based on his political opinion. After reviewing the record and the parties’ briefs, we affirm. I Mr. Lepetiuk served as a criminal investigator in Ukraine for 13 years. In 2014, special units were formed to control persistent riots and investigate potential government corruption; Mr. Lepetiuk served on one of these units. Mr. Lepetiuk testified before the immigration judge that he was attacked and threatened due to his participation in the investigation. These attacks on and threats against Mr. Lepetiuk began with threatening phone calls in 2014. Then—on April 18, 2014— Mr. Lepetiuk’s car was broken into and his work papers were stolen. In 2015 Mr. Lepetiuk was run off the road. And in January of 2016 his house was broken into and ransacked but no valuables were stolen. Mr. Lepetiuk also testified that others 2 Case: 18-14259 Date Filed: 09/05/2019 Page: 3 of 10 in his special unit received similar threatening phone calls, and unlike him, decided to forgo the investigation immediately. Mr. Lepetiuk explained that during his involvement with the special unit investigations, he obtained confessions and statements indicating that Andriy Parubiy—then the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukriane and currently the Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament—organized the recurring riots. Sometime afterwards, the individuals who implicated Mr. Parubiy were found dead. Mr. Lepetiuk further testified that he was reprimanded by his superiors for refusing to hand over the original documents he had acquired during the investigations in November of 2015. Mr. Lepetiuk quit the investigations in March of 2016, applied for an American visa in August of 2016, and stayed in the United States until December of 2016. He also moved his wife and children to Belarus because his wife was unable to procure a visa. He returned briefly to Ukraine in December of 2016, thinking it was safe to come back, but quickly returned to the United States after he was stabbed. Mr. Lepetiuk was arrested and detained by immigration officers on February 28, 2018 and was charged with being ...
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