Opinion ID: 2972386
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Petitioners’ claim of past persecution

Text: The United States Attorney General has discretion under the INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a), to grant asylum to a “refugee.” Perkovic v. INS, 33 F.3d 615, 620 (6th Cir. 1994). The disposition of an application for asylum involves a two-step inquiry: (1) whether the applicant qualifies as a “refugee” as defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A), and (2) whether the applicant “merits a favorable No. 03-4307 Gilaj, et al. v. Gonzales Page 5 exercise of discretion by the Attorney General.” Id. (citing Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. at 428 n.5, 107 S.Ct. at 1211 n.5). The burden is on the applicant to establish that he or she qualifies as a refugee. 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(a)-(b). The applicant’s testimony, if credible, “may be sufficient to sustain the burden of proof without corroboration.” 8 C.F.R. § 1208.13(a). The court reviews the factual determination of whether a petitioner qualifies as a refugee under a “substantial evidence” test. Yu v. Ashcroft, 364 F.3d 700, 702 (6th Cir. 2004). The court may reverse the BIA’s determination if the evidence “not only supports a contrary conclusion, but indeed compels it.” Ouda v. INS, 324 F.3d 445, 451 (6th Cir. 2003). The petitioner must demonstrate “that the evidence presented was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite persecution or fear of persecution.” Id. The INA, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A), defines a “refugee” as an alien who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her home country “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 . . . .” Thus, there are two alternative methods by which an applicant for asylum may establish eligibility for asylum: (1) the applicant can prove that he or she has suffered past persecution, or (2) the applicant can show that he or she has a well-founded fear of future persecution. 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(b); see Matter of Chen, 20 I. & N. Dec. 16, 18, 1989 WL 331860 (BIA 1989) (citations omitted). In order to demonstrate eligibility for asylum on the basis of a well-founded fear of persecution, an applicant must establish that: (1) he or she “has a fear of persecution in his or her country of nationality . . . on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion;” (2) “There is a reasonable possibility of suffering such persecution if he or she were to return to that country;” and (3) “He or she is unable or unwilling to return to, or avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country because of such fear.” 8 C.F.R. 1208.13(b)(2)(i). “A well-founded fear of persecution has both a subjective and an objective component.” See Perkovic, 33 F.3d at 620. An applicant “must actually fear that he will be persecuted upon return to his country, and he must present evidence establishing an ‘objective situation’ under which his fear can be deemed reasonable.” Id. at 620-21 (citing Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. at 430-31, 440, 107 S.Ct. at 1212-1213, 1217). The applicant, however, is not required “to show that he probably will be persecuted if he is deported; ‘[o]ne can certainly have a well-founded fear of an event happening when there is less than a 50% chance of the occurrence taking place.’” Id. at 621 (quoting Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. at 431, 107 S.Ct. at 1213). The INA provides no definition of “persecution.” In Mikhailevitch v. INS, 146 F.3d 384 (6th Cir. 1998), this court reviewed numerous cases from other circuits in an attempt to discern the meaning of the term within the context of the INA. The court determined that “‘persecution’ within the meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A) requires more than a few isolated incidents of verbal harassment or intimidation, unaccompanied by any physical punishment, infliction of harm, or significant deprivation of liberty.” Id. at 390. Mikhailevitch has not been interpreted as “suggesting that physical punishment is in all cases sufficient for finding persecution.” Gjokic v. Ashcroft, Nos. 02-3915, 02-3917, 2004 WL 1491638, at  4, 104 Fed.Appx. 501 (6th Cir. June 29, 2004) (unpublished) (citing Mikhailevitch, 146 F.3d at 390). Rather, as the court in Gjokic emphasized, Mikhailevitch states only that “something ‘more than a few isolated incidents of verbal harassment or intimidation unaccompanied by any physical punishment’ is necessary for finding persecution . . . .” Id. (citing Mikhailevitch, 146 F.3d at 390). The court in Gjokic relied on this language in Mikhailevitch and on several decisions from other circuits in determining that “while even a single beating offends one’s sense of civilized No. 03-4307 Gilaj, et al. v. Gonzales Page 6 governmental conduct, a single beating does not compel a finding of persecution . . . .” Id. (citing Dandan v. Ashcroft, 339 F.3d 567, 574 (7th Cir. 2003) (“being detained, beaten and deprived of food for three days did not compel a finding of persecution); Prasad v. INS, 47 F.3d 336, 339-40 (9th Cir.1995) (“‘[a]lthough a reasonable fact-finder could have found’ a brief detention and beating requiring no medical care ‘sufficient to establish past persecution . . . a fact-finder would [not] be compelled to do so’”); Kapcia v. INS, 944 F.2d 702, 704, 707 (10th Cir.1991) (“being ‘detained for a two-day period [and] . . . interrogated and beaten’ did not compel a finding of past persecution”); Skalak v. INS, 944 F.2d 364, 365 (7th Cir.1991) (“The function [of the past- persecution inquiry] is to identify persecution so severe that perhaps a person should not be forced to return to the country in which she underwent it even if the danger of recurrence is negligible.”). Consistent with these decisions, the court in Gjokic upheld a finding of no persecution as to an alien who had been detained for several days following his attendance at a demonstration and who had been beaten by the police with rubber sticks, which caused bruising but no permanent injuries. The court found that, in addition to considering the length of the detention and the severity of the physical harm, the IJ had properly considered “the context of the demonstration” that the alien had attended. Id. at . Specifically, the petitioner had not led, or spoken at, any demonstrations, and he had not distinguished himself from the thousands of other demonstrators. Id. Moreover, the petitioner had not been beaten or detained again during the one and one-half years between the incident on which he based his claim of past persecution and the time he left his home country. Id. Another panel of this court has indicated what types of conduct may rise to the level of persecution by quoting with approval the following language from a Seventh Circuit decision: Persecution encompasses more than threats to life or freedom; non-life threatening violence and physical abuse also fall within this category. However, to sustain an asylum application, the conduct must rise above mere harassment. Types of actions that might cross the line from harassment to persecution include: detention, arrest, interrogation, prosecution, imprisonment, illegal searches, confiscation of property, surveillance, beatings, or torture. De Leon v. INS, No. 02-4148, 2004 WL 1088243, at  1, 99 Fed.Appx. 597 (6th Cir. May 12, 2004) (unpublished) (quoting Begzatowski v. INS, 278 F.3d 665, 669 (7th Cir. 2002)). 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. See, e.g., Pilica v. Aschcroft, 388 F.3d 941, 954 (6th Cir. 2004); Gjokic, 2004 WL 1491638. Our decisions demonstrate that to create a presumption of a well-founded fear of future persecution, the applicant must establish that he or she was specifically targeted by the government for abuse based on a statutorily protected ground and was not merely a victim of indiscriminate mistreatment. For instance, in Pilica, the court deemed it significant that “[t]here is no indication that [the applicant] is on some governmental blacklist; indeed, all of the occurrences that arguably constitute past persecution resulted directly from Pilica’s attendance at a demonstration rather than from the government having sought him out.” 388 F.3d at 955. Similarly, as noted above, the panel in Gjokic relied on the fact that the petitioner had not led, or spoken at, any demonstrations, he had not distinguished himself from the thousands of other demonstrators, and he was never detained or beaten again. 2004 WL 1491638, at . The numerous decisions rendered by the various panels of this court upon review of BIA decisions on applications for asylum make clear that the conduct on which the application for asylum is based must go beyond what might reasonably be characterized as mere harassment in order to rise to the level of persecution. It is equally clear that the characterization of conduct as No. 03-4307 Gilaj, et al. v. Gonzales Page 7 persecution does not necessarily turn on the severity of the conduct itself or on the frequency of the alleged incidents. Indeed, courts have held that even a single incident may be sufficient to establish past persecution. See, e.g., Corado v. Ashcroft, 384 F.3d 945, 947-48 (8th Cir. 2004); Guo v. Ashcroft, 361 F.3d 1194, 1203-04 (9th Cir. 2004); Asani v. INS, 154 F.3d 719, 723-24 (7th Cir. 1998). Rather, the critical factor is the overall context in which the harmful conduct occurred. It is not sufficient that the applicant has been subjected to indiscriminate abuse, such as physical force or violence employed against a crowd of demonstrators, or has been the victim of a random crime. Instead, the applicant must establish that he or she was specifically targeted by the government for abuse based on one of the statutorily protected grounds. If the applicant can make this showing, then the court should consider whether the applicant was subjected to physical harm and suffering or simply verbal threats and intimidation, and the gravity of the circumstances presented. When reviewed in light of the case law addressing the meaning of “persecution” within the context of the INA, the IJ’s decision that the incidents described by petitioners do not rise to the level of persecution is not supported by substantial evidence. The IJ found petitioners to be credible, so we must accept the representations petitioners made in the application and their testimony as true. The testimony establishes that petitioners were specifically targeted for abuse based on their political opinions and activities and that the abuse exceeded verbal harassment and intimidation and consisted of more than a single beating or other isolated occurrence. The Gilaj family was subjected to searches of their home by the police on two occasions, with the police telling the family during the first search that they could enter the home by force because they were Socialists and they were going to make Democrats suffer, and then making threats to kill and suffocate Mrs. Gilaj during the second search. In addition to these incidents, petitioners were subjected to physical abuse and infliction of harm and suffering on several occasions. Mrs. Gilaj was beaten during the first search of her home in September of 1998. She was detained for two days in October of 2000, during which time she was deprived of food and beaten with rubber sticks, slapped, and punched, resulting in bruising and pain for which she obtained medication following her release. Mrs. Gilaj apparently was also the victim of a sexual offense, or an attempted sexual offense, by the police, which was thwarted only by the timely arrival of her relatives. Finally, Mrs. Gilaj and her family received numerous telephone threats, including death threats made as recently as the month preceding Mr. and Mrs. Gilaj’s departure from Albania. The IJ recounted much of this testimony when setting forth the substance of petitioners’ claims. In determining that the incidents that petitioners had described did not constitute persecution, however, the IJ apparently failed to take into account the fact that Mrs. Gilaj and her family had been specifically targeted by their government for abuse based on Mrs. Gilaj’s political activities. Moreover, the IJ inexplicably downplayed the severity of the conduct, omitted serious incidents from consideration, and failed to consider in the aggregate all of the incidents that he did take into account. The IJ summarized the conduct on which he based his determination that Mrs. Gilaj had not been subjected to persecution as follows: [Mrs. Gilaj] testified that she participated in demonstrations, that she sought to increase Democratic party support in her part of the country. She testified that as a result of her activities she was threatened by the opposing party, and perhaps by the police. She testified that her house was searched, and she testified that she was held for two days after one demonstration. She also testified that she did not suffer any serious injuries as a result of her time in custody. When these incidents are considered in the aggregate, this Court cannot find that they rise to the level of persecution. This is not to minimize the difficulty of being active politically in a country, such as Albania, with no tradition of democracy. Similarly, the Court finds that the threats that respondent may have received as a result of her political activity do not constitute past persecution. No. 03-4307 Gilaj, et al. v. Gonzales Page 8 It is disturbing to see that, in his summary of the incidents on which he based his decision, the IJ made no mention of the fact Mrs. Gilaj had been beaten during the first search of her home; that during the second search of her home, the police had threatened to suffocate and kill her; that she had been beaten and bruised and deprived of food during her two-day detention; and that the police apparently had sexually assaulted or molested her, or had attempted to do so, during the second search of her home. The IJ instead reduced the conduct that petitioners had endured to a few isolated occurrences and described them in such a way that, if one were to read only the IJ’s summary of the testimony, one could easily conclude that Mrs. Gilaj had been subjected to nothing more than some annoying and rather innocuous behavior. In reality, the testimony paints a much more ominous picture of a victim specifically targeted by her government for physical and psychological abuse because of her political opinions and activities. By omitting to take into account each of the serious occurrences that petitioners had described, the IJ failed to consider all of the material information bearing upon the issue of whether Mrs. Gilaj had been subjected to past persecution. Moreover, the IJ apparently did not consider the threats against the family and the other incidents in conjunction with each other, instead separately concluding that any threats that Mrs. Gilaj may have received as a result of her political activity did not constitute past persecution. When all of the incidents to which petitioners testified are taken into account and considered in the aggregate and in light of the overall context of the Gilaj family’s situation, the record compels a finding that Mrs. Gilaj was subjected by her government to past persecution on account of political activities and opinion. These incidents go well beyond the types of conduct that this court has held do not constitute persecution. Petitioners did not testify merely to “a few isolated incidents of verbal harassment or intimidation unaccompanied by any physical punishment,” or to a single beating or other remote occurrence. Nor did petitioners show only that they were the victims of indiscriminate abuse or random violence. Instead, petitioners demonstrated that they were the intended targets of a series of incidents that consisted of physical punishment, threats to petitioners’ lives, detentions, illegal searches, and an apparent sexual offense or attempted sexual offense by government agents, because of political activities and opinion. The IJ’s determination that these incidents do not constitute past persecution simply is not supported by substantial evidence. The BIA did not correct the IJ’s errors, but instead further distorted the record in rendering its decision. After generally stating that it concurred in the IJ’s determination that Mrs. Gilaj had not demonstrated that she had suffered harm sufficiently serious as to constitute persecution, the BIA noted in particular that Mrs. Gilaj had not specified “how the men who came to her house on April 11, 2000, attempted to ‘provoke’ her as a woman.” Although Mrs. Gilaj’s testimony was vague in this regard, it was nonetheless sufficiently clear to show that Mrs. Gilaj had been subjected to an attempted assault or molestation of a sexual nature but was too ashamed to provide details regarding the incident. When Mrs. Gilaj was asked at the hearing what she meant by the police “started to provoke me as woman,” she responded, “I, I cannot express it, I’m ashamed, they started to touch me.” Mrs. Gilaj also indicated during her testimony that, upon arriving at her home at the time of the incident, her relatives found her “crying there, and with [her] blouse tore up and unbuttoned.” This testimony suffices to show what Mrs. Gilaj meant when she stated that the police started to provoke her as a woman. It is understandable that Mrs. Gilaj would be hesitant to provide any more details, and no one prompted her to do so at the hearing. Given the testimony that Mrs. Gilaj did provide and her apparent reluctance to go into embarrassing detail, the BIA’s reliance on this ambiguity in the record to support a finding of a lack of sufficiently serious harm is simply not justified. A reasonable adjudicator would be compelled to conclude that the incidents described by petitioners rise to the level of “persecution” as that term has been developed in the case law, and the BIA’s decision to the contrary is not supported by substantial evidence. We therefore cannot uphold the BIA’s decision. No. 03-4307 Gilaj, et al. v. Gonzales Page 9