The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has denied Wzr. Nigist Gebrehiwot her request for political asylum. The ER Research Unit has learned that the USCIS rejected Wzr. Nigist’s application saying that the Woyanne regime in Ethiopia has given her a pardon and that when other members and leaders of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit) returned to Ethiopia from a working visit to the U.S. they did not face any problem. Wzr. Nigist has appealed the USCIS decision to the immigration court.