Opinion ID: 1232168
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Persecution Based on an Imputed Political Opinion

Text: Although the agency's adverse credibility determination is alone sufficient to deny Hassan's petition, we acknowledge that the events omitted from Hassan's application are not critical to his claim of persecution. We also note that the IJ's finding that Hassan testified falsely involved a mischaracterization of Hassan's testimony, albeit a harmless one. Based on these reservations, we think it best to review the agency's alternative holding that, even if Hassan's testimony were credible, he failed to show the persecution necessary to establish asylum eligibility. We review the agency's conclusion that the harm that Hassan allegedly suffered did not rise to the level of persecution under the substantial evidence standard. Tarraf, 495 F.3d at 534. Under that standard, we will reverse only if the record compels a different result, and not simply because we are convinced that we would have decided the case differently. Shmyhelskyy, 477 F.3d at 478-79. To justify reversal, the evidence in support of the application must be `so compelling that no reasonable fact-finder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution.' Georgis, 328 F.3d at 967-68 (quoting INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 484, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992)). As mentioned above, in order to establish eligibility for asylum, the applicant has the burden of showing status as a refugee. 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(i). A refugee is one who is unable or unwilling to return to his country of origin 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. Id. § 1101(a)(42)(A). The applicant may qualify as a refugee either because he has suffered past persecution or because he has a well-founded fear of future persecution. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b). An applicant who shows past persecution on account of a protected trait is entitled to a presumption of refugee status. Id. § 1208.13(b)(1). In order to establish refugee status based on a well-founded fear of persecution, the applicant must show that his fear is subjectively genuine and objectively reasonable in light of credible evidence. Musollari, 545 F.3d at 508 (quotation omitted). The fear is objectively reasonable if a reasonable possibility exists that the applicant would suffer persecution on account of a protected trait upon returning to his country of nationality. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(b)(2)(i)(B). Hassan claims both past persecution and a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of his membership in a family of OLF supporters and an imputed political opinion. He argues that the Ethiopian authorities attribute to him the political views of his family members, particularly his father, a former OLF member. Our case law recognizes that an applicant may suffer persecution on account of the political opinions held by family members and imputed to the applicant. See BinRashed v. Gonzales, 502 F.3d 666, 673 (7th Cir.2007) (finding substantial evidence of persecution of the son of a political activist); Mema, 474 F.3d at 415-16, 418-20 (reviewing evidence that persecutors imputed the views of the applicant's politically active father and twin brother); Nakibuka v. Gonzales, 421 F.3d 473, 478 (7th Cir.2005) (examining whether persecutors perceived, correctly or not, that the house worker of an opposition leader was herself a political opponent). We have described this basis of persecution as on account of either an imputed political opinion or membership in a particular social groupthe family group. BinRashed, 502 F.3d at 670; Mema, 474 F.3d at 417. Under either characterization, the necessary proof is the same: the applicant must show that the persecutors attributed a political opinion to him, and that this attributed opinion was the motive for the persecution. Mema, 474 F.3d at 417 (citations omitted). It is not enough to show both a violent government act and the applicant's relationship to a political dissident; the applicant must link the two and show that her family's political opinions have been imputed to her and that she has suffered or will suffer persecution as a result. Ciorba v. Ashcroft, 323 F.3d 539, 545 (7th Cir.2003). We examine Hassan's evidence to determine whether the record compels a finding of either past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution. As for past persecution, Hassan points to the 2004 shooting incident, reasoning that the Ethiopian soldiers fired at him and his cousin Anwar based on their fathers' political views. He surmises that a village informant told the Ethiopian government that he and Anwar had returned to Ethiopia and that the soldiers targeted them at the burial ceremony for their fathers' OLF activities. We cannot agree with Hassan that the record compels this interpretation of events. No evidence links the shooting to any political views held by Hassan and Anwar or imputed to them based on the OLF activities of their long-deceased fathers. See Aid v. Mukasey, 535 F.3d 743, 747-48 (7th Cir.2008) (observing that no evidence indicated that terrorists who raided the applicant's store were motivated by political goals, especially where the applicant was not politically outspoken); Sankoh v. Mukasey, 539 F.3d 456, 471-72 (7th Cir.2008) (finding no evidence that the persecutors imputed a family political opinion that the applicant did not outwardly hold). On the contrary, the only motive for the shooting suggested by the record is the fact that Hassan and Anwar were the only burial attendees who fled. The soldiers never identified Hassan by name or confronted him based on his family's ties to the OLF. Cf. Nakibuka, 421 F.3d at 475 (recounting that soldiers who detained and beat the applicant addressed her by name and warned her to stop supporting the political opposition); Tolosa v. Ashcroft, 384 F.3d 906, 910 (7th Cir.2004) (noting that soldiers made derogatory comments about the applicant's Oromo ethnicity while beating and interrogating her about the whereabouts of her father, a political defector). Further, while we do not minimize the danger that Hassan faced from being fired upon, the soldiers' isolated shooting at unidentified suspects is distinct from the recurring detention, arrest, interrogation, prosecution, imprisonment . . . beatings, or torture of political opponents that typically sustain allegations of past persecution. Tarraf, 495 F.3d at 535 (quotations omitted); cf. BinRashed, 502 F.3d at 671 (addressing allegations of past persecution based on threats and detentions of a political opponent's son); Mema, 474 F.3d at 418 (noting that the applicant was allegedly detained and beaten for his father's political activities). Because the record does not compel Hassan's interpretation of the shooting incident, the agency's decision that Hassan failed to show past persecution is supported by substantial evidence. Although another judge may have found past persecution on these facts, we cannot say that the record compels a contrary result. Mema, 474 F.3d at 418. By similar reasoning, substantial evidence supports the agency's finding that Hassan failed to show a well-founded fear of future persecution. Hassan argues that the 2004 shooting incident, in conjunction with his family history and background evidence of repression of OLF supporters, establishes a well-founded fear of political persecution. We have already discussed the lack of evidence linking the shooting to Hassan's family ties or political views. As for family history, Hassan's aunt, Mahbuba Nasir, and his second cousin, Faisal Mohamed, did testify that Hassan was an Oromo whose father was involved in the OLF and killed in combat. However, this testimony does not compel the conclusion that the Ethiopian government knew of Hassan's father's political views, attributed those views to Hassan, and would likely persecute Hassan based on those views. Cf. BinRashed, 502 F.3d at 668-69 (describing evidence that the Yemeni authorities had threatened to arrest the applicant for his father's political dissidents and later issued arrest warrants for him and his siblings); Mema, 474 F.3d at 415 (recounting the applicant's testimony that the police attacked him and his siblings for supporting their father in leading the opposition party). Regarding background evidence, Hassan presented the IJ with reports by the State Department and other news and human rights organizations. These reports indicate that the Ethiopian government engages the OLF in armed conflicts and arbitrarily detains persons suspected of sympathizing with the political opposition. The expert affidavit of Professor Halberson further establishes that Oromos suffer a disproportionate share of this arbitrary treatment, since authorities tend to assume that Oromos are more likely to be OLF supporters. Hassan also cites a 2005 Human Rights Watch report indicating that the government has set up structures to monitor the Oromo population and harass outspoken political opponents. Human Rights Watch, Suppressing Dissent: Human Rights Abuses and Political Repression in Ethiopia's Oromia Region 27 (2005), available at http://www.hrw.org/ sites/default/files/reports/ethiopia0505.pdf. This background evidence does suggest that, as an Oromo in Ethiopia, Hassan is more likely to experience political repression by the Ethiopian government than members of other ethnic groups. However, we agree with the IJ that the general mistreatment of Oromos, who make up approximately 40% of the Ethiopian population, does not alone establish a well-founded fear of persecution. To establish an objectively reasonable fear of future persecution, Hassan must point to  specific, detailed facts showing a good reason to fear that he . . . will be singled out for persecution. Bolante v. Mukasey, 539 F.3d 790, 794 (7th Cir.2008) (emphasis in original) (quotation omitted). Hassan has not produced such facts. Although his witnesses established the family's ties to the OLF, Hassan was not himself an OLF member, and nothing in the record indicates that he ever express[ed] any political opinion critical of the Ethiopian government. Aid, 535 F.3d at 748. In sum, Hassan's evidence does not compel the conclusion that the Ethiopian government imputes a political opinion to him based on his family ties, much less that the government will target him for that opinion. It follows that the agency's determination that Hassan failed to show a well-founded fear of political persecution is supported by substantial evidence.