Opinion ID: 2976568
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Meaning of “Persecution”

Text: To benefit from the presumption that he has a well-founded fear of future persecution, Petitioner must establish both that he suffered past persecution and that this persecution was on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. Koliada, 259 F.3d at 487. The BIA determined, and the government does not contest, that Petitioner’s decision not to fire on political demonstrators was itself a statement of political opinion. Accordingly, the question of whether Petitioner is entitled to a presumption of eligibility for asylum and withholding of removal hinges upon whether his detention, torture and subsequent flight from the Albanian police falls within the definition of past “persecution.” The Immigration and Nationalization Act (“INA”) provides no definition of “persecution,” and thus far this Court has declined to articulate one. See Mikhailevitch v. I.N.S., 146 F.3d 384, 389 (6th Cir. 1998). Rather than laying out a bright-line rule or even a multi-factor test establishing the scope of the word “persecution,” this Court has preferred to engage in case-by-case discussions of the circumstances of individual parties, occasionally providing hints as to what “persecution” may encompass. Thus, precedent teaches that persecution “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, but also that “[a] single incident may be sufficient to constitute persecution.” Mohammed v. Keisler, 507 F.3d 369, 371 (6th Cir. 2007). It teaches that persecution “embodies punishment or the infliction of suffering or harm,” Mikhailevitch, 146 F.3d at 389; however, it “does not encompass all treatment that our society regards as unfair, unjust, or even unlawful or unconstitutional.” Lumaj v. Gonzales, 462 F.3d 574, 577 (6th Cir. 2006). 8 This lack of clarity in regard to the meaning of the word “persecution” may be by Congressional design. In 1978, Congress enacted the Holtzman Amendment to the INA, which prohibits asylum from being extended to persons who themselves engaged in persecution. See 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(B). In enacting this Amendment, Congress considered providing a specific definition of the word “persecution,” but ultimately decided instead to “require [an] individual determination based on the facts in each case.” H.R.Rep. No. 95-1452, at 7 (1978), reprinted in 1978 U.S.C.C.A.N. 4700, 4706. Nevertheless, the Holtzman Amendment’s legislative history does provide a helpful window into Congress’ understanding of what constitutes persecution. The Amendment’s legislative history embraces previous case law that described persecution “as the infliction of suffering or harm, under government sanction, upon persons who differ in a way regarded as offensive (e.g. race, religion, political opinion, etc.), in a manner condemned by civilized governments.” Id. at 5. It would be inconsistent with Congress’ intent to treat this description of persecution as providing a rigid, bright-line rule that necessarily excludes oppression which does not fall within its scope. See id. at 7 (“It is the intention of the committee that determinations be made on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the case law . . . as well as international material on the subject such as the opinions of the Nuremberg Tribunals.”) Nevertheless, when a member of a protected class suffers officially sanctioned harm which is of the severity widely condemned by the international community, such harm falls within the INA’s definition of the word “persecution.” See id. at 5. In the instant case, Petitioner testified that he was detained and tortured because of his politically motivated decision not to fire on civilians, and the IJ found that Petitioner’s testimony accurately described what happened to him. Similarly, Petitioner experienced the harm at the hands 9 of Albanian police officers, thus lending official sanction to his suffering. Accordingly, inasmuch as the ill-treatment which Petitioner experienced was of the severity that is condemned by civilized governments, that treatment amounted to persecution.