Opinion ID: 6349253
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Forced to Flee

Text: As the majority correctly notes, our court has recognized that under certain circumstances “being forced to flee from one’s home in the face of an immediate threat of severe physical violence or death” can constitute persecution. Mendoza-Pablo v. Holder, 667 F.3d 1308, 1314 (9th Cir. 2012). But the circumstances in which our court has found that fleeing evidenced persecution were much more severe than those faced by Molina. For example, in MendozaPablo, the petitioner’s village was burned to the ground and its inhabitants massacred, including his immediate family members who were locked in their homes and burned alive—forcing his mother to flee to the mountains with him while eight-months pregnant. Id. at 1311–13. And in Knezevic, our court emphasized the “ethnic cleansing” that forced petitioner to flee after his home and business were destroyed while his hometown was shelled and bombarded by hostile forces. Knezevic v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 1206, 1208–12 (9th Cir. 2004). Mendoza-Pablo and Knezevic do not stand for the proposition that fleeing always, or even usually, constitutes persecution, and those cases cannot be read isolated from their extreme facts, which differ markedly from Molina’s decision to relocate. Molina chose to relocate after a threat was spray painted on his house, and later after paramilitary members came looking for him. But our precedent sets a higher bar for persecution, including in the cases cited by the majority on fleeing one’s home. The petitioners in Mendoza-Pablo and Knezevic fled their homes, because, unlike Molina, their homes were completely destroyed. At the end of the day, 50 FLORES MOLINA V. GARLAND fleeing is one of many factors the agency considered, and viewed in light of the record as a whole, one reasonable conclusion (which the agency drew) is that Molina did not suffer persecution even though he relocated after receiving threats. The cases cited by the majority do not compel otherwise.