Opinion ID: 3026188
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Countrywide Fear of Persecution

Text: The third ground upon which the IJ denied Galdamez’s application for asylum was his alleged failure to show that the danger of persecution he faces is countrywide. App. 12 (“Based on the evidence before me I cannot find that the respondent has shown countrywide persecution.”). The IJ noted that Galdamez relocated briefly to Santa Rosa de Cupon for three months to live with his mother and “lived quietly without any incidents and without any evidence that the Mara group sought to harm him or sought to recruit him to become [a] member of this group.” App. 21. However, if Galdamez establishes that he was subject to past persecution, it is not his burden to prove that it would not be reasonable for him to relocate to another part of Honduras. “[A]n alien who offers credible testimony regarding past persecution is presumed to have a well-founded fear of future persecution.” Berishaj v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 314, 326 (3d Cir. 2004). When an asylum applicant has demonstrated past persecution and thus is presumed to have a well-founded fear of future persecution, the government may rebut this presumption by proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the applicant “could avoid future persecution by relocating to another part of the applicant's country of nationality or, if stateless, another part of the applicant's country of last habitual residence, and under all the circumstances, it would be reasonable to expect the 16 applicant to do so.” 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(b)(1)(i)(B).4 Thus, if the agency determines on remand that Galdamez has established past persecution, the burden is on the government to show that Galdamez can safely relocate. Furthermore, we again note that the IJ failed to consider several important pieces of evidence in the process of making this finding. Galdamez testified that, even while he was living in Santa Rosa, he feared that he would be targeted by the gang members. The IJ also ignored Galdamez’s testimony that he did not leave his house while in Santa Rosa because he was “afraid that the groups may find [him].” App. 180. In addition, the IJ did not make any reference to the United Nations report on Honduras in the record, which describes the gang problem in Honduras as countrywide. The report states that “[t]here are several youth gangs in Honduras. Dominant among them are the ‘Mara Salvatrucha’ (better known as MS). . . . The gangs operate throughout the country but are more visible in the urban centres of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula.” App. 249. Thus, this finding by the IJ is suspect and is not supported by substantial evidence. 4 “In cases in which the applicant has not established past persecution, the applicant shall bear the burden of establishing that it would not be reasonable for him or her to relocate, unless the persecutor is a government or is government-sponsored.” 8 C.F.R. § 208.13(b)(3)(i). 17