Court Opinion

ID: 9475449
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 05:27:51.930959+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:43.687186
License: Public Domain

HARRISON L. WINTER, Chief Judge,
dissenting:
I respectfully dissent. While I agree that Cruz-Lopez has not shown that he is barred from deportation under 8 U.S.C. § 1253(h), I think that on the record before us, Cruz-Lopez has demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution, rendering him eligible for a grant of asylum in the discretion of the Attorney General as authorized by 8 U.S.C. § 1158(a).
As the majority opinion states most of our sister circuits have held that the “well-founded fear of persecution” test of § 1158(a) is more lenient than the “clear probability of persecution” test of § 1253(h). Although the correctness of this holding will be shortly examined by the Supreme Court, Cardoza-Fonseca v. INS, cert. granted, — U.S.-, 106 S.Ct. 1181, 89 L.Ed.2d 298 (1986), it is the rule that I would apply absent contrary directions from the Supreme Court.* Cruz-Lopez has demonstrated, in my view, both a genuine subjective fear, as the immigration judge found, and an objective basis sufficient to render this fear reasonable. Cardozo-Fonseca v. INS, 767 F.2d 1448,1453 (9 Cir.1985); Carvajal-Munoz v. INS, 743 F.2d 562, 574-75 (7 Cir.1984); see also Bolanos-Hernandez v. INS, 767 F.2d 1277, 1283 (9 Cir.1985).
With regard to the subjective elements of the well-founded fear test, it is undisputed that petitioner fled El Salvador because of fear generated by a specific threat from an organized guerilla faction, the Bloque Popular Revolucionario. The general level of political violence attending the Salvadoran civil war renders the threat both credible and serious, as does the fact that one of petitioner’s closest friends and neighbors was killed after a similar threat. I would also attach greater significance than does the majority to petitioner’s affiliation with the Oscar Romero Committee, which has fallen into increasing official disfavor. Although Cruz-Lopez has discontinued his association with the organization, his family is closely associated with the group through his uncle, Napoleon Lopez, a well-known activist, whose family in El Salvador has been persecuted on his account. While the government has issued no specific threats against petitioner, its history of persecuting intimates of Napoleon Lopez indicates that petitioner’s risk upon repatriation would exceed that of the general population. This reasonable apprehension of governmental persecution based on kinship to Napoleon Lopez or participation in the anti-government Oscar Romero Committee qualifies petitioner for discretionary asylum.
The Immigration and Nationality Act calls upon us to deal in questions of proba*1524bility. Certainty is not possible, but certainty is not required. In view of the specific, credible threat directed at petitioner, I conclude that he has demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution. Accordingly, I would remand the case in order to permit the Attorney General to exercise his discretion.

 In the alternative I would be willing to stay decision in this case until the Supreme Court decides Cardoza-Fonseca.