Opinion ID: 4572660
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Petitioner's Claims of Error

Text: In his brief on appeal to the BIA, Zhakira identified three primary errors by the IJ: (1) the failure to address his claim that he has a well-founded fear of persecution based on his political opinion, (2) mistaken reliance on his family's lack of harm in finding that Zhakira's fear of religious persecution was not well-founded, and (3) mischaracterization of his religious persecution claim as a claim based on membership in a social group of individuals present in the US for ten years who have US citizen children. Zhakira emphasized that, in both his application and testimony before the IJ, he consistently stated his fear that he would be targeted as a supporter of the alliance of countries, - 5 - including Kenya, that are actively opposing Al-Shabaab's campaign to impose Sharia law on Somalia, and he argued that the evidence in the record documents that a political motive is at least one central reason for the harm feared. He noted that he is not required to show that he would be singled out for persecution because the record shows a pattern or practice of persecution against those similarly situated to him, i.e., individuals who oppose [Al-Shabaab's] activities in Somalia as well as those associated with Christian and western interests. Moreover, he asserted, voluminous evidence in the record detailing Al-Shabaab's attacks throughout Kenya demonstrate[s] that the government is unable to control Al-Shabaab. Zhakira asserted that his family's avoidance of violence thus far -- despite their practice of Christianity -- does not undermine his claim to a well-founded fear of future persecution based on his own religious practice. Zhakira also objected to the IJ's characterization of his claim as based on a particular social group and stated that his reliance on his U.S. connections simply informed the asylum claims he made based on his actual political opinions and those that would be imputed to him, as well as on the basis of his Christianity. Zhakira nonetheless went on to argue that, even analyzed under the particular social group theory, he has asserted a well-founded fear of persecution. - 6 -