Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/502/478
Timestamp: 2013-05-19 21:06:46
Document Index: 262832884

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 101', '§ 101', '§ 101', '§ 101', '§ 208', '§ 243']

IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Petitioner, v. Jairo Jonathan ELIAS-ZACARIAS. | Supreme Court | LII / Legal Information Institute
Supreme Court aboutsearch liibulletin subscribe previews IMMIGRATION AND NATURALIZATION SERVICE, Petitioner, v. Jairo Jonathan ELIAS-ZACARIAS.
502 U.S. 478 (112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38)
Decided: Jan. 22, 1992.
[HTML] Syllabus Respondent, a native of Guatemala, was apprehended for entering the United States without inspection. In his deportation proceedings, the Board of Immigration Appeals determined that he was ineligible for a discretionary grant of asylum. In reversing that determination, the Court of Appeals ruled that a guerrilla organization's acts of conscription constitute persecution on account of political opinion and that respondent therefore had a well-founded fear of such persecution.
Held: A guerrilla organization's attempt to coerce a person into performing military service does not necessarily constitute "persecution on account of . . . political opinion" under § 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42). Even one who supports the political aims of a guerrilla movement might resist military combat and thus become the object of such coercion. Moreover, persecution on account of political opinion is not established by the fact that the coercing guerrillas had "political" motives. In order to satisfy § 101(a)(42), the persecution must be on account of the victim's political opinion, not the persecutor's. Since respondent did not produce evidence so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution on account of political opinion, the Court of Appeals had no proper basis to set aside the BIA's determination. See 8 U.S.C. 1105a(a)(4); NLRB v. Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co., 306 U.S. 292, 300, 59 S.Ct. 501, 505, 83 L.Ed. 660. Pp. 481-484.
The principal question presented by this case is whether a guerrilla organization's attempt to coerce a person into performing military service necessarily constitutes "persecution on account of . . . political opinion" under § 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as added, 94 Stat. 102, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42).
"Around the end of January in 1987 when Elias-Zacarias was 18, two armed, uniformed guerrillas with handkerchiefs covering part of their faces came to his home. Only he and his parents were there. . . . The guerrillas asked his parents and himself to join with them, but they all refused. The guerrillas asked them why and told them that they would be back, and that they should think it over about joining them.
"Elias-Zacarias did not want to join the guerrillas because the guerrillas are against the government and he was afraid that the government would retaliate against him and his family if he did join the guerrillas. He left Guatemala at the end of March 1987 . . . because he was afraid that the guerrillas would return."
Section 208(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1158(a), authorizes the Attorney General, in his discretion, to grant asylum to an alien who is a "refugee" as defined in the Act, i.e., an alien who is unable or unwilling to return to his home country "because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion." § 101(a)(42)(A), 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42)(A). See INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421, 423, 428, n. 5, 107 S.Ct. 1207, 1209, 1211, n. 5, 94 L.Ed.2d 434 (1987). The BIA's determination that Elias-Zacarias was not eligible for asylum must be upheld if "supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole." 8 U.S.C. 1105a(a)(4). It can be reversed only if the evidence presented by Elias-Zacarias was such that a reasonable factfinder would have to conclude that the requisite fear of persecution existed. NLRB v. Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co., 306 U.S. 292, 300, 59 S.Ct. 501, 505, 83 L.Ed. 660 (1939).
Elias-Zacarias appears to argue that not taking sides with any political faction is itself the affirmative expression of a political opinion. That seems to us not ordinarily so, since we do not agree with the dissent that only a "narrow, grudging construction of the concept of 'political opinion,' " post, at 487, would distinguish it from such quite different concepts as indifference, indecisiveness and risk-averseness. But we need not decide whether the evidence compels the conclusion that Elias-Zacarias held a political opinion. Even if it does, Elias-Zacarias still has to establish that the record also compels the conclusion that he has a "well-founded fear" that the guerrillas will persecute him because of that political opinion, rather than because of his refusal to fight with them. He has not done so with the degree of clarity necessary to permit reversal of a BIA finding to the contrary; indeed, he has not done so at all.
If respondent were to prevail, as he did in the Court of Appeals, 921 F.2d 844 (CA9 1990), he would be classified as a "refugee" and therefore be eligible for a grant of asylum. He would not be automatically entitled to that relief, however, because "the Attorney General is not required to grant asylum to everyone who meets the definition of refugee." INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421, 428, n. 5, 107 S.Ct. 1207, 1209, n. 5, 94 L.Ed.2d 434 (1987) (emphasis in original). Instead, § 208 of the Act provides that the Attorney General may, "in his discretion," grant asylum to refugees.
* A political opinion can be expressed negatively as well as affirmatively. A refusal to support a causeby staying home on election day, by refusing to take an oath of allegiance, or by refusing to step forward at an induction centercan express a political opinion as effectively as an affirmative statement or affirmative conduct. Even if the refusal is motivated by nothing more than a simple desire to continue living an ordinary life with one's family, it is the kind of political expression that the asylum provisions of the statute were intended to protect.
"Choosing to remain neutral is no less a political decision than is choosing to affiliate with a particular political faction. Just as a nation's decision to remain neutral is a political one, see, e.g., Neutrality Act of 1939, 22 U.S.C. 441-465 (1982), so is an individual's. When a person is aware of contending political forces and affirmatively chooses not to join any faction, that choice is a political one. A rule that one must identify with one of two dominant warring political factions in order to possess a political opinion, when many persons may, in fact, be opposed to the views and policies of both, would frustrate one of the basic objectives of the Refugee Act of 1980to provide protection to all victims of persecution regardless of ideology. Moreover, construing 'political opinion' in so short-sighted and grudging a manner could result in limiting the benefits under the ameliorative provisions of our immigration laws to those who join one political extreme or another; moderates who choose to sit out a battle would not qualify." Id., at 1286 (emphasis in original; footnote omitted).
The narrow, grudging construction of the concept of "political opinion" that the Court adopts today is inconsistent with the basic approach to this statute that the Court endorsed in INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, supra. In that case, relying heavily on the fact that an alien's status as a "refugee" merely makes him eligible for a discretionary grant of asylumas contrasted with the entitlement to a withholding of deportation authorized by § 243(h) of the Actthe Court held that the alien's burden of proving a well-founded fear of persecution did not require proof that persecution was more likely than not to occur. We explained:
It is important to emphasize that the statute does not require that an applicant for asylum prove exactly why his persecutors would act against him; it only requires him to show that he has a "well-founded fear of persecution on account of . . . political opinion." As we recognized in INS v. Cardoza Fonseca, the applicant meets this burden if he shows that there is a " 'reasonable possibility' " that he will be persecuted on account of his political opinion. 480 U.S., at 440, 107 S.Ct., at 1217-1218 (quoting I.N.S. v. Stevic, 467 U.S. 407, 425, 104 S.Ct. 2489, 2498, 81 L.Ed.2d 321 (1984)). Because respondent expressed a political opinion by refusing to join the guerrillas, and they responded by threatening to "take" or to "kill" him if he did not change his mind, his fear that the guerrillas will persecute him on account of his political opinion is well founded.
Quite beside the point, therefore, is the dissent's assertion that "the record in this case is more than adequate to support the conclusion that this respondent's refusal [to join the guerrillas] was a form of expressive conduct that constituted the statement of a 'political opinion,' " post, at 488 (emphasis added). To reverse the BIA finding we must find that the evidence not only supports that conclusion, but compels itand also compels the further conclusion that Elias-Zacarias had a well-founded fear that the guerrillas would persecute him because of that political opinion.
Section 101(a)(42), as codified in 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(42), provides:
"(a) As used in this chapter
Section 208(a) of the Act, as codified at 8 U.S.C. 1158(a), provides: