Opinion ID: 724042
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Persecution Based on Social Group

Text: 4 Petitioner argues that he belonged to the social group of people with low economic status. This Court has defined a social group as 5 a collection of people closely affiliated with each other, who are actuated by some common impulse or interest. Of central concern is the existence of a voluntary associational relationship among the purported members, which impart some common characteristic that is fundamental to their identity as a member of that discrete social group. 6 Sanchez-Trujillo v. I.N.S., 801 F.2d 1571, 1576 (9th Cir.1986). Populations whose only common characteristic is their low economic status do not form a social group for asylum purposes. 7 Even if persons in a disfavored economic status were considered a social group, nothing in the record proves that they, as Chinese citizens, were the targets of persecution (subjects of unreasonably high fines and extended detention) at the hands of the local authorities.