Opinion ID: 1237154
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: First Hearing and Appeal

Text: On August 22, 2003, Brezilien appeared before an IJ for his initial asylum hearing. Brezilien requested a continuance to consult with an attorney, which the IJ granted. At his next hearing, on September 4, 2003, Brezilien appeared without counsel, though he stated that a lawyer with whom he had spoken told him she would be at the hearing. The IJ decided to proceed in her absence because Brezilien was not on his list of detainees represented by counsel. Upon questioning by the IJ, Brezilien admitted that he was a citizen of Haiti who had been granted asylum in 1993 and that he had been convicted of attempted aggravated assault in 2000. On the basis of these two admissions, the IJ found Brezilien removable as charged. Although Brezilien had previously been granted asylum, he reapplied for asylum, and also applied for withholding of removal and CAT relief. On December 17, 2003, the IJ granted Brezilien's second application for asylum. The IJ found that because he had admitted the factual allegations in the Notice to Appear, Brezilien had conceded the charge of removability, a finding he now contests. The IJ then found by clear and convincing evidence that the removal charge had been sustained. Nevertheless, the IJ noted that Brezilien had been granted asylum in 1993, and at that time had established a well-founded fear of persecution. The IJ determined that the government bore the burden of showing that circumstances in Haiti had changed so dramatically that Brezilien's well-founded fear was no longer valid. The IJ found that Brezilien was a credible witness. Because Brezilien had been in Haiti when the coup occurred and when the Ton Ton Macoutes had stormed his house, kidnapped and killed his father, and fired shots into the house, the IJ found that Brezilien was entitled to the presumption of future persecution upon which his previous grant of asylum had been based. The IJ also assessed the record and found that Brezilien had suffered past persecution. The IJ granted Brezilien asylum and withholding of removal, but did not rule on the application for CAT relief. The government appealed, and on September 8, 2004, the BIA reversed the IJ's decision. Rejecting the IJ's determination that Brezilien had suffered past persecution, the BIA stated that its review of the record revealed no evidence that Brezilien had ever been the intended target of harm, and that therefore he had no objective fear of persecution. Without reversing the IJ's credibility finding, the BIA remanded to the IJ to allow Brezilien to demonstrate that changed country conditions qualified him for asylum, withholding of removal, and CAT relief.