Opinion ID: 1192063
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Persecution because of social group membership

Text: We next consider whether Abdulmunaem and Salah would be subject to persecution in Yemen because of their membership in a particular social group, thus entitling them to the withholding of removal. Unlike a discretionary asylum grant, withholding of removal is mandatory if the applicant can establish a clear probability of future persecution. Mapouya v. Gonzales, 487 F.3d 396, 413-14 (6th Cir.2007). Persecution is defined as the infliction of harm or suffering by the government, or persons the government is unwilling or unable to control, to overcome a characteristic of the victim. Khalili, 557 F.3d at 436 (citation and internal quotation marks omitted). Because a critical element of persecution is motive, a petitioner must provide some evidence of it, direct or circumstantial. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992) (emphasis in original). One cannot simply presume that persecution is on account of a statutory ground. Zoarab v. Mukasey, 524 F.3d 777, 780 (6th Cir.2008). Instead, in considering whether an alien has demonstrated the required nexus, this court has instructed: In addition to examining the nature of the conduct on which an application for asylum is based, we have looked to the overall context of the applicant's situation to ascertain whether the applicant has been subjected to persecution within the meaning of the INA so as to give rise to a presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution. Gilaj v. Gonzales, 408 F.3d 275, 285 (6th Cir.2005). Asylum and the withholding of removal are not available to an alien who fears retribution solely over personal matters. Zoarab, 524 F.3d at 781 (emphasis added). But when an applicant demonstrates that he or she was persecuted on the basis of more than one factor, the applicant is eligible for asylum or the withholding of removal so long as one of those factors is a protected ground under the INA. Marku v. Ashcroft, 380 F.3d 982, 988 n. 10 (6th Cir.2004). Based on this principle, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed a decision of the BIA in which the BIA found that a union leader from Guatemala was targeted by the government because of his economic beliefs rather than for political reasons. Osorio v. INS, 18 F.3d 1017, 1028 (2d Cir.1994). The Second Circuit found that the issue was not so clear cut, explaining that the conclusion that a cause of persecution is economic does not necessarily imply that there cannot exist other causes of the persecution. Id. In reversing the BIA, the court reasoned that [a]ny attempt to unravel economic from political motives is untenable in this case. Id. at 1029. Similarly, in the instant case, the General's personal motives cannot be unraveled from his motives based on Abdulmunaem and Salah's social class and their opposition to Yemeni paternalistic rights. The conflict was caused by the General's refusal to permit Abdulmunaem to marry Najla precisely because of the meat-cutter class to which Abdulmunaem and his family belong. Although the immediate cause of the General's anger was the defiance of his wishes through Abdulmunaem's secret marriage to Najla, the underlying cause of the General's wrath was his class prejudice. The affront to the General's honor was based on the fact that his daughter had run away with a lower-class man whom the General perceived to be unworthy. Thus, the BIA erred in finding that the sole motivation for the General's actions was his personal vendetta against Abdulmunaem and Najla for disobeying him. Abdulmunaem and Salah added insult to injury by openly opposing Yemeni cultural traditions once the secret marriage was discovered. Yemeni society recognizes a father's right to control who his daughter marries and permits a father to punish and even killthose who defy this tradition and insult the family honor. Rather than giving up his marriage to Najla and submitting to the General's rights as Najla's father, however, Abdulmunaem took Najla to southern Yemen. Salah similarly refused to recognized the paternal rights of the General and would not disclose the location of Abdulmunaem and Najla, despite being detained and abused by the General's guards. Abdulmunaem's and Salah's refusal to submit to the paternalistic traditions of Yemen therefore gives the General further causerecognized by Yemeni societyto kill the brothers. Indeed, the General has repeatedly made this very threat. These facts, when viewed in the overall context of the applicant[s'] situation, Gilaj, 408 F.3d at 285, demonstrate that the General's prejudice and traditional views underlay all of his actions. And because of the General's actions, Abdulmunaem and Salah were forced to choose between their fundamental values and their personal safety. One cannot fairly distinguish the General's personal vendetta from his prejudice and traditional views. The motivations are inextricably intertwined. Thus, the record compels a finding that Abdulmunaem and Salah have proven the required nexus between the General's threats of death and their membership in a particular social group. The BIA alternatively concluded that even if Abdulmunaem and Salah had demonstrated the requisite nexus, they had not established a clear probability of future persecution due to the unwillingness or inability of the government in Yemen to assist them. Abdulmunaem and Salah, according to the government, have waived any challenge to this finding because they failed to challenge this aspect of the Board's decision in their opening brief. To the contrary, Abdulmunaem and Salah expressly challenged this finding in their opening brief by stating that the BIA made selective use of the country materials and failed to properly consider their evidence of the conditions in Yemen. They argue that the BIA's finding that they could seek the assistance of the government in Yemen does not even pass the `giggle' test. Thus, Abdulmunaem and Salah have preserved this issue for review. Contrary to the conclusion of the BIA, the record shows that Abdulmunaem and Salah could not reasonably expect the assistance of the government in Yemen. They contend, and the U.S. Attorneys Office does not apparently dispute, that the actions of General Abu Taleb are attributable to the Yemeni government. Even if this were not the case, Abdulmunaem and Salah have provided compelling evidence that the Yemeni government is unwilling or unable to control the General's actions. The General, for example, shot his own son, and Abdulmunaem testified that the General has never been prosecuted for this action. In addition, instead of protecting Abdulmunaem's mother from the General, the police actually helped the General break into her house. Salah was also detained in jail without charges for three months on the General's orders, to say nothing of his abuse by the General's guards. Although the BIA relied on the fact that a local district attorney was able to order Salah's release, the record shows that Salah was released only because the General had left the country to look for Abdulmunaem and Najla. The BIA also gave great weight to the fact that Salah remained in Aden for several months before fleeing to the United States, and that Abdulmunaem, Salah, and Najla were able to leave Yemen without being caught. At that time, however, the General was under the impression that they were in Saudi Arabia, and he was looking for them there. We therefore conclude that the points relied on by the BIA are unpersuasive. In addition, the continuing safety of Abdulmunaem and Salah's other family members in Yemen does not have the significance that the BIA gave to this factor. These other family members did not seek to marry outside of their class, nor did they help Abdulmunaem marry Najla after the General refused to give his permission. As previously discussed, one of the characteristics of the social group to which Abdulmunaem and Salah belong is active opposition to the paternalistic marriage traditions in Yemen. The Al-Ghorbani family members not involved with Abdulmunaem's marriage to Najla do not share this characteristic. Their continued safety thus does not demonstrate that Abdulmunaem and Salah could return to Yemen without the likelihood of persecution. To the contrary, the record contains ample evidence that the General will kill Abdulmunaem, Salah, and Najla if they are returned to Yemen, and nothing in the record suggests that conditions in Yemen have changed such that the government there will now be able to control the powerful General. The only way that Abdulmunaem and Salah were able to avoid being killed was through their escape from that country. Accordingly, the record compels a finding that Abdulmunaem and Salah have demonstrated a clear probability of future persecution in Yemen. They are therefore entitled to the withholding of removal. See Zhu v. Gonzales, 493 F.3d 588, 602 (5th Cir.2007) (reversing the BIA's denial of the withholding of removal and remanding to the BIA with instructions to enter an order withholding removal); Al-Harbi v. INS, 242 F.3d 882, 894 (9th Cir.2001) (same).