Ryan Grey v. City of Oak Grove

1The IJ’s decision, therefore, constitutes the final agency determination for
purposes of judicial review. See Dominguez v. Ashcroft, 336 F.3d 678, 679 n.1 (8th
Cir. 2003); 8 C.F.R. § 1003.1(e)(4) (2004).
United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
___________
No. 03-3475
___________
Elton Ndreko, *
*
Petitioner, *
* Petition for Review
v. * of an Order of the
* Board of Immigration Appeals.
John Ashcroft, Attorney General *
of the United States of America, * [UNPUBLISHED]
*
Respondent. *
___________
Submitted: December 30, 2004
Filed: January 11, 2005
___________
Before MURPHY, FAGG, and SMITH, Circuit Judges.
___________
PER CURIAM.
Elton Ndreko, a citizen of Albania, petitions for review of an order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), which affirmed without opinion an
Immigration Judge’s (IJ’s) denial of asylum and related relief.1 On appeal, Ndreko
challenges the IJ’s adverse credibility determination.

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-2-
After careful review of the record, we conclude that the IJ’s decision on
Ndreko’s asylum application is supported by substantial evidence on the record as a
whole. See Menendez-Donis v. Ashcroft, 360 F.3d 915, 917-19 (8th Cir. 2004)
(standard of review). The IJ discredited Ndreko’s testimony because it was vague,
meager, and inconsistent with the documentary evidence, and because Ndreko
submitted documents whose authenticity was questionable. Because it was supported
by specific, cogent reasons for disbelief, we defer to the credibility finding. See
Nyama v. Ashcroft, 357 F.3d 812, 816-17 (8th Cir. 2004) (per curiam) (deference
standard); Daiga v. INS, 183 F.3d 797, 798 (8th Cir. 1999) (per curiam) (upholding
adverse credibility finding where alien offered inconsistent testimony and submitted
questionable documents). Ndreko’s request for withholding of removal thus fails as
well. See Kratchmarov v. Heston, 172 F.3d 551, 555 (8th Cir. 1999) (withholding-of-
removal standard is more difficult to meet than asylum standard).
Accordingly, we deny the petition.
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