Opinion ID: 754519
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: analysis

Text: 10 This court reviews decisions of the BIA deferentially. We must uphold the Board's conclusion if it is supported by reasonable, substantial, and probative evidence on the record considered as a whole. 8 U.S.C. § 1105(a)(4); Angoucheva v. INS, 106 F.3d 781, 788 (7th Cir.1997). In a case such as this one, where the BIA summarily affirms an IJ's decision, we base our review on only the IJ's analysis. See Guentchev v. INS, 77 F.3d 1036, 1038 (7th Cir.1996). However, the BIA's summary affirmance of a flawed decision by an IJ may lead us to conclude that the BIA's decision is insufficient. See Draganova v. INS, 82 F.3d 716, 720 (7th Cir.1996). 11 In order to qualify for asylum, Mya must establish that he is unwilling to return to Burma 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. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A); INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 481, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992). To show a well-founded fear, he must demonstrate both that the fear is genuine and that it is reasonable in light of the credible evidence. See Dobrican v. INS, 77 F.3d 164, 167 (7th Cir.1996).
12 As an initial matter, we uphold the IJ's conclusion that Mya has failed to establish past persecution. Substantial evidence supports the IJ's finding that the events described by Mya--namely, being interrogated twice about the whereabouts of his son, having his home searched on three separate occasions, and being forced to sign an agreement to report his son's location if his son contacted him-did not describe any conduct by the Burma military and/or police forces that would tend to indicate any unreasonableness. The incidents described by Mya are not sufficiently serious to rise to the level of persecution. See Borca v. INS, 77 F.3d 210, 215 (7th Cir.1996) (being interrogated twice, having dwelling searched twice, and receiving threatening phone calls did not rise beyond level of harassment).
13 We turn next to Mya's claim that he has a well-founded fear of persecution based upon either imputed political opinion or membership in a particular social group, a group which he identifies as comprised of parents of Burmese student dissidents. 14
15 One way that an applicant can establish a political opinion under the INA is to show an imputed political opinion. An imputed political opinion is a political opinion attributed to the applicant by his persecutor. Meza-Manay v. INS, 139 F.3d 759, 763-64 (9th Cir.1998); Cruz-Diaz v. INS, 86 F.3d 330, 332 (4th Cir.1996); Ravindran v. INS, 976 F.2d 754, 760 (1st Cir.1992); Perlera-Escobar v. Executive Office for Immigration, 894 F.2d 1292, 1298 (11th Cir.1990). Mya claims that the government has singled him out for persecution because it mistakenly believes that he shares the same political opinions as his son. 16 The IJ found, correctly, that Mya's fears were speculative in nature and not objective. 2 Mya has not substantiated his claims that the Burmese government has imputed his son's political views to him. He has not pointed to any situation in which the government has held him accountable for Thant's political activities, let alone persecuted him for any imputed political opinions. Cf. Meza-Manay, 139 F.3d 759, 763-65 (death threats and attempts on applicant's life established that Peruvian terrorist group Shining Path imputed to her the political opinions of her husband, a police counter-insurgency specialist responsible for capturing Shining Path leaders). To the contrary, as Mya himself testified, the police interrogations focused solely on Thant's whereabouts, and not on Mya's views of Thant's political opinions. 17 Furthermore, Mya did not suffer any physical harm during these interrogations. Unlike the applicant in Ramirez Rivas v. INS, 899 F.2d 864, 865-66 (9th Cir.1990), whose father was shot and friend killed for imputed political opinions based on family relationships, no member of the Lwin family has been harmed on account of Thant's participation in anti-government activities. Furthermore, Mya's family-owned business continues to operate profitably, his wife still resides in their same home, and their two other grown children continue to live in Burma without incident. See Rodriguez-Rivera v. U.S. Dep't of INS, 848 F.2d 998, 1006 (9th Cir.1988) (per curiam) (fact that applicant continued to live undisturbed in same place undermined his claim to have a well-founded fear of persecution). Mya cannot support his argument that Burma's military leaders have imputed a hostile political opinion to him on account of his relationship to his son, and we affirm the BIA's decision on this claim. 18
19 Mya also claims that he is entitled to asylum because he faces persecution as a member of a particular social group, namely the social group consisting of parents of Burmese student dissidents. Because the IJ did not discuss the claim in her decision, Mya argues that this case must be remanded for further consideration. 20 The government contends that the IJ did not address Mya's social group claim because Mya failed to raise it during his administrative proceedings. Our interpretation of the record is more charitable. We note that Mya, in his supplemental statement filed with the IJ, defined his particular social group as parent[s] of a student democracy activist. Later, at his hearing, Mya responded to his attorney's questions and elaborated on his membership in such a group: 21 Q: To your knowledge, have any other parents of--of student activists been arrested or imprisoned? 22 A: Yes, I know. 23