Opinion ID: 28756
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Factual Sufficiency in the Asylum Claim

Text: Ontunez next argues that the BIA erred by finding his evidence insufficient to support a claim of persecution on account of political opinion or membership in a particular group. This court reviews “factual findings by the Board to determine if they are supported by substantial evidence in the record.” Mikhael v. INS, 115 F.3d 299, 302 (5th Cir. 1997). “The substantial evidence standard requires only that the Board's conclusion be based upon the evidence presented and be substantially reasonable.” SilwanyRodriguez v. INS, 975 F.2d 1157, 1160 (5th Cir. 1992) (quoting Rojas v. INS, 937 F.2d 186, 189 (5th Cir. 1991)). For this Court to reverse a factual finding of the BIA, the applicant must show that “the evidence he presented was so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution.” INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 112 S.Ct. 812, 817 (1992); 15 Lopez-Gomez v. Ashcroft, 263 F.3d 442, 444 (5th Cir. 2001).
In order to gain asylum because of persecution due to political opinion, the alien must first show that his persecutors’ actions were motivated by his, the alien’s, political opinions. Rivas-Martinez, 997 F.2d at 1147. The relevant question is the motivation of the persecutor. The alien must demonstrate through some evidence, either direct or circumstantial, that the persecutors know of his (the alien’s) political opinion and has or will likely persecute him because of it. Id. Ontunez argues that he produced evidence that compels such a finding. Ontunez relies upon two cases in which circuit courts found the applicant's actions to be political. In the first, Osorio v. INS, 18 F.3d 1017 (2nd Cir. 1994), a Guatemalan union leader fled to the United States after violence broke out in connection with his union's struggle with their employers, the Guatemalan government. The immigration judge denied asylum and withholding of deportation, and the BIA affirmed that decision on the grounds that struggles between labor and management were economic in nature. Id. at 1028. The Second Circuit reversed because it interpreted the BIA's decision as having illogically concluded that evidence of economic motivation precludes any finding of political persecution, much like our decision in Rivas-Martinez. Id. The court found that Osorio's activities had a political aspect because the 16 government perceived the union's economic struggle as threatening its political power. Id. at 1029-30. The second case cited by Ontunez is Desir v. Ilchert, 840 F.2d 723 (9th Cir. 1988). In that case, Haitian fisherman Desir was ordered to pay bribes to the Haitian security force, the Ton Ton Macoutes. When he failed to pay the required bribes, Desir was arrested and assaulted by the Macoutes. Id. at 724-25. Desir fled to the United States, where the immigration judge and BIA refused him asylum or prohibition of deportation because his persecution arose solely because he failed to pay money. Id. at 725. The Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that Desir had amply proven that he was persecuted on account of his political opinion. The court relied upon sources deeming Haiti a “kleptocracy,” or government by theft, and recognized that the failure to pay bribes in such a government not only offended the Ton Ton Macoutes's finances, but their politics as well. Id. at 727-28. Because the Duvalier regime ruled by the fear engendered by these forced bribes, Desir's resistance led to his categorization as a subversive. This categorization, the court held, was properly categorized as political resistance. Id. at 728. In contrast, the INS refers us to the case of Cuevas v. INS, 43 F.3d 1167 (7th Cir. 1995). In that case, Felisa and Teofilo Cuevas owned land in the Philippines and rented it to farmers who used it to grow rice. The tenants stopped paying rent and 17 eventually demanded the right to buy the land. When the Cuevases refused, they were threatened by anonymous people whom they believed were connected with the New People's Army, the armed wing of the Communist Party in the Philippines. Id. at 1169. The Cuevases fled to America, but the immigration judge and BIA determined that they had not shown a well-founded fear of persecution on account of their political opinion. Id. The Seventh Circuit agreed, holding that despite the possible political connection “[p]etitioners have transformed a relatively minor land dispute in an isolated part of their country into a paranoic [sic] fear of harm anywhere in the Philippines.” Id. at 1171. Ontunez's case does not resemble Osorio and Desir, cases in which the alien acted in direct opposition to government policies. and instrumentalities. In those cases, the direct government connection cast a political shadow over an otherwise largely economic claim. Here, the closest connection between Ontunez and the government is that he stands in economic competition with the attorney for a businessman who is the nephew of the man who became President in 1998. Ontunez also draws a governmental connection from the fact that two local police officers were with the landlords when Puerto assassinated Mejia. Neither connection compels us to read his evidence in a new, more overtly political light. On appeal, Ontunez must set forth evidence so compelling that 18 “no reasonable factfinder could fail to find” the requisite elements. Elias Zacarias, 112 S.Ct. at 817. Ontunez has not met this very difficult requirement because reasonable factfinders could be unpersuaded that the landlords were motivated by the political aspects of Ontunez's struggle. The landlords did not demand Ontunez's silence, they only demanded that he leave Las Delicias “in a good way or a bad way.” This suggests that the landlords neither hated him for his general political opposition to the moneyed elites nor wished to silence his impassioned speeches; they just wanted him off the land so they could develop it. Second, Ontunez did not receive any threats while he was in San Pedro Sula, which suggests that the landlords were satisfied so long as he remained off the land. Third, we note that the landlords were willing to settle the land title issue with the campesinos. While the sum they demanded may have been more than the farmers could pay, as Ontunez alleges in his brief, the offer need not have been a sham and may have been a fair offer given Ontunez's testimony regarding the land's economic potential. At any rate, the offer indicates that the landlords were interested in the economic potential of Las Delicias and not in the broader political struggle. While the landlords' focusing on the leaders of the Foundation rather than the rank-and-file campesinos might arguably suggest a political motive, that argument ultimately fails because the 19 evidence suggests that the landlords would not accept the passive presence of the campesinos any more than they accepted the vocal protests of Ontunez and the Foundation. Their goal was simply a vacant Las Delicias. As a result, we cannot say that all reasonable factfinders would feel compelled to accept Ontunez's interpretation of or inferences from the facts. We affirm the BIA's decision in this respect.
Ontunez next claims that substantial evidence compels the conclusion that he was persecuted on account of his membership in the particular social group of “land rights leaders.” To establish that he is a member of a “particular social group,” he must show that he was a member of a group of persons that share a common characteristic that they either cannot change or should not be required to change because it is fundamental to their individual identities or consciences. See Matter of Acosta, 19 I&N Dec. 211, 233 (BIA 1985). Once the alien has made this showing, he must also show that he was persecuted “on account of” such membership. The BIA did not reach the issue of whether Ontunez was a member of a particular social group constituted of activist agrarian cooperative leaders because it held that Ontunez had not shown that the landlords' actions were “on account of” such membership. Ontunez argues that the BIA made an impermissible “metaphysical” distinction between his status as a resistance 20 leader and the actions that led to that status; that is, that the BIA relied on the actions themselves without considering their import. We disagree with this construction, which takes a valid distinction and attempts to render it incoherent. The evidence does not compel a finding that the landlords cared whether Ontunez was in the particular social group of “activist agrarian cooperative leaders”; it shows they cared about the land in Las Delicias but does not compel the conclusion that they cared about his activism generally. Ontunez only offered evidence of persecution against the Foundation, not against other agrarian leaders. The fact that a persecutor has not opposed other members of the same group suggests that the persecution was not on account of that group membership. See Matter of R-A-, Interim Decision 3403 (BIA 1999) (“If group membership were the motivation behind his abuse, one would expect to see some evidence of it manifested in actions toward other members of the same group.”). Similarly, Ontunez offered no evidence suggesting that the landlords would be happy to allow the campesinos to stay if their leadership departed, as might be expected if the landlords were motivated by his membership in the group of activist leaders. Neither does his evidence suggest that the landlords would oppose him if he were a member of the agrarian activists but not impeding their plans for Las Delicias. Instead, Ontunez essentially testified that the landlords only cared about getting Las Delicias 21 or an equivalent amount of cash. Ontunez failed to present evidence that takes the crucial step from persecution because of economic desire to persecution because of membership in the group of land activists. The distinction is not “metaphysical.” Because he has not demonstrated evidence so compelling that reasonable factfinders could not find otherwise, we affirm the decision of the BIA in this respect.