Opinion ID: 164582
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claims Based on Anti-Chinese Persecution

Text: 33 Petitioner's claims for asylum and restriction on removal are based on the threat of anti-Chinese persecution in Indonesia. The IJ rejected both claims on the ground that Petitioner had not established his Chinese ethnicity. The IJ also apparently rejected Petitioner's asylum claim on the ground that Petitioner did not come to this country because of a fear of persecution. The IJ did not address whether the events in Indonesia would either support a well-founded fear of persecution by someone of Chinese ethnicity or establish a clear probability of persecution of such a person. As we now proceed to discuss, we hold that the IJ (1) did not adequately explain his rejection of Petitioner's claim to be Chinese and (2) incorrectly assumed that eligibility for asylum requires that the applicant have come to the United States out of fear of persecution. We therefore reverse the IJ's ruling and remand for further proceedings. At the proceedings it may be necessary to address the threat of persecution in Indonesia to persons of Chinese ethnicity.
34 Where ... the BIA summarily affirms or adopts an immigration judge's decision, this court reviews the judge's analysis as if it were the BIA's. Tsevegmid, 336 F.3d at 1235. Our standard of review is highly deferential: We review the IJ's resolution of the initial refugee status question under a substantial evidence standard. Yuk, 355 F.3d at 1233. In other words, the IJ's adverse asylum decision must be upheld if supported by reasonable, substantial and probative evidence on the record as a whole. Krastev, 292 F.3d at 1275. 35 Application of this standard to credibility findings takes on a special importance in asylum cases because of the inherent difficulties a purported refugee may have in obtaining documentation to back up his claims. See, e.g., Senathirajah v. INS, 157 F.3d 210, 215-16 (3d Cir.1998). In recognition of the problem, the regulations governing the establishment of asylum eligibility provide that an applicant's testimony, if credible... may be sufficient to sustain the [applicant's] burden of proof without corroboration. 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(a); see Aliens and Nationality; Asylum and Withholding of Deportation Procedures, 53 Fed.Reg. 11,300 (Apr. 6, 1988) (noting that this rule, originally proposed as 8 C.F.R. § 208.12(a), 52 Fed.Reg. 32,552 (Aug. 28, 1987), was drafted to recognize that the flight or defection of a bona fide refugee from a country that engages in widespread persecution may leave him in a difficult position to corroborate his claim.). 36 Accordingly, we have joined several other circuits in requiring that an IJ generally must give specific, cogent reasons for an adverse credibility finding. See Sviridov v. Ashcroft, 358 F.3d 722, 727 (10th Cir.2004); El Moraghy v. Ashcroft, 331 F.3d 195, 205 (1st Cir.2003); Secaida-Rosales v. INS, 331 F.3d 297, 307 (2d Cir.2003); Dia v. Ashcroft, 353 F.3d 228, 249 (3d Cir.2003); Figeroa v. INS, 886 F.2d 76, 78 (4th Cir.1989); Capric v. Ashcroft, 355 F.3d 1075, 1086 (7th Cir.2004); Nyama v. Ashcroft, 357 F.3d 812, 817 (8th Cir.2004); He v. Ashcroft, 328 F.3d 593, 595 (9th Cir.2003). Adverse credibility determinations based on speculation or conjecture... are reversible. Gao v. Ashcroft, 299 F.3d 266, 272 (3d Cir.2002). We will reject an adverse credibility finding for which an IJ gives virtually no reasoning. See Figeroa, 886 F.2d at 79 (the BIA offered no reason whatsoever for disbelieving [petitioner]). Even when an IJ might have had a reason based on the record for rejecting testimony, it is insufficient if he does not present that reason in his decision. See, e.g., El Moraghy, 331 F.3d at 205 (It may be that the IJ believed [petitioner] not to be credible, which was the conclusion of the initial interviewing officer. If so, the IJ neither made such a finding, nor explained the basis in evidence for such a finding, both of which are basic errors.). 37
38 As recounted above, the IJ did not credit Petitioner's claim that he was ethnically Chinese, saying: [W]e have not received any evidence whatsoever, other than his testimony that he is, in fact, of this particular race. The Court is not satisfied with the evidence that was presented regarding that particular matter. Oral Decision at 9. We hold that the IJ failed to state a substantial basis for rejecting Petitioner's claim that he is ethnically Chinese. The IJ did not provide any reasoning for finding Petitioner's testimony, on its own, insufficient to establish his ethnicity. Corroborating documentary evidence is not required. See Kourski v. Ashcroft, 355 F.3d 1038, 1039 (7th Cir.2004) (noting that under 8 C.F.R. § 208.13, [f]ailure to tender a birth certificate to prove that one was a Russian Jew would ... not be decisive evidence that one was not Jewish); In re S — M — J —, 21 I. & N. Dec. 722, 1997 WL 80984 at . We remand for a redetermination of Petitioner's claim that he is ethnically Chinese. 39 Because the IJ found that Petitioner had not established his Chinese ethnicity, the IJ did not proceed to examine the evidence that persons of Chinese ethnicity face persecution in Indonesia. Nor did the government address the matter in its brief to this court. (Although the IJ mentioned that any claim of a threat to Petitioner on the basis of his ethnicity was undercut by the fact that he still had family living in Indonesia, there is no evidence of this in the record. All that is known of Petitioner's family in Indonesia is his testimony that the only relatives he might still have there are his uncle's family, with whom he does not have any contact ... at all. R. at 110.) If on remand Petitioner is found to be ethnically Chinese, it will then be necessary to make the findings regarding persecution that are required to resolve Petitioner's claims for asylum and restriction on removal. We note that because more than five years have passed since Petitioner's original asylum hearing, current conditions in Indonesia may be taken into account in resolving this issue. See INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12, 17-18, 123 S.Ct. 353, 154 L.Ed.2d 272 (2002) (ordering remand of asylum case to BIA for consideration of changed country conditions); Secaida-Rosales v. INS, 331 F.3d 297, 313 (2d Cir.2003) (after concluding that IJ had made a baseless credibility determination at asylum hearing, remanding the case to allow the IJ to reach the secondary question of country conditions in light of evidence on current country conditions). Subsequent events in Indonesia may well undercut Petitioner's claims. See, e.g., Limerta v. Ashcroft, 88 Fed.Appx. 363, 366 (10th Cir.2004); Lauw v. Ashcroft, 85 Fed.Appx. 871 (3d Cir. Nov. 4, 2003) 2003 U.S. LEXIS App. 22742 at .
40 As an alternative ground for rejecting Petitioner's asylum claim, the IJ apparently found that Petitioner lacked a subjective fear of persecution. (There is no requirement of a subjective fear for a restriction-on-removal claim, but the objective standard for restriction on removal — a clear probability of persecution — is more stringent than the objective standard for refugee standing for purposes of asylum — that the fear of persecution be well-founded.) 41 The IJ found that Petitioner came to the United States to escape his mother, not out of fear of persecution in Indonesia. This finding is undisputed. But it is legally irrelevant. 42 An applicant need not have fled his home country out of fear of persecution to qualify as a refugee. INA § 101(a)(42)(A) simply defines the term refugee as any person who is outside any country of such person's nationality or ... any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country for statutorily protected reasons. 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A) (emphasis added). The definition omits any reference to or requirement of flight, and thereby renders irrelevant why the applicant left his country of origin. See Thomas Alexander Aleinikoff, David A. Martin & Hiroshi Motomura, Immigration and Citizenship: Process and Policy 1109 (4th ed. 1998) (The current statutory definition of `refugee' (in INA § 101(a)(42)(A)), like the UN definition from which it is derived, contains no ... requirement that beneficiaries... show that they `fled' because of a fear of persecution.). 43 Indeed, the federal courts — including this circuit — often address (and grant) refugee claims based on fear of persecution that arise only once petitioners are in the United States. See, e.g., Yuk, 355 F.3d at 1225 (considering asylum claim based on coup in Cambodia after petitioner's departure for vacation in the United States); Motamedi v. INS, 713 F.2d 575 (10th Cir.1983) (remanding asylum claim to BIA for consideration of new evidence; Iranian petitioner came to United States as student prior to Iranian Revolution, and based claims of fear on anti-Khomeini demonstrations in which he participated while in the United States); Chang v. INS, 119 F.3d 1055, 1068 (3d. Cir.1997) (granting refugee status to and vacating denial of withholding of removal from head of Chinese technical delegation who sought asylum for failing to report intended defection of members of delegation who announced that intention only after arrival in the United States); see generally Deborah E. Anker, Law of Asylum in the United States 35 (3d. ed. 1999) (The Board and the courts have considered various claims to protection based on events that occur after the applicant's departure from her country.). 44 Here, neither the IJ nor the government has suggested that Petitioner now lacks a subjective fear of persecution in Indonesia based on his ethnicity. Thus, we remand for a finding on that matter.