Court Opinion

ID: 9489680
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:21:23.500841+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:39.553361
License: Public Domain

KOZINSKI, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
Judge Reinhardt’s opinion, with which I generally agree, demonstrates the importance of independent judicial review in an area where administrative decisions can mean the difference between freedom and oppression and, quite possibly, life and death.
What happened in this case at the administrative level is chilling. Rodriguez, a refugee from Communist Cuba, established that, if returned to his country, he might be shot, imprisoned for many years or simply made to “disappear.” These are not fantasies. Communist countries are known for their brutality in stemming emigration; this brutality is inevitable because Communism so undermines human dignity and economic prosperity that any Communist country that opened its borders would soon be depopulated. Vicious punishment for emigration offenses is thus a means of enforcing political allegiance to governments unable to inspire loyalty by more conventional means.
None of this is new or controversial; the West has known of this seamy practice at least since the early 1960’s, when East Germany was first observed shooting its citizens for trying to scale the Berlin Wall.
Where the Immigration Judge and the BIA went astray is in accepting the New-speak used by the Cuban government to camouflage its atrocities. Rather than admitting that it must cling to its own citizens by brute force, the Cuban government adopts the fairy tale that its citizens, with the exception of a few “traitors” and “deserters,” are happy to live under Communism. In so doing, the Cuban government co-opts the use of those terms and subverts them to its own nefarious ends.
Treason, as that term is commonly understood, involves betrayal of one’s country by disclosing national security secrets to its enemies or otherwise giving them material aid and comfort, especially in time of war. “Desertion” involves leaving one’s military post in time of war. Rodriguez carried away no military secrets; he did not abandon a combat post; he did not attempt to undermine the Cuban government in any way. All Rodriguez wanted was a chance to live his life, and raise his family, in a place where the government serves the people, not vice versa.
Against this backdrop — which should be self-evident to anyone who has lived through the Cold War — the IJ’s discourse on how Cuba’s repressive laws are of a mold with the practice of civilized nations is nothing short of bizarre. The judge stated:
In socialist Cuba illegal exit, desertion and treason are all crimes. The latter two are also crimes in the United States.... Certainly, any government when it passes laws has a political objective as part of the motivation for the statute. I have no doubt that the laws which the respondent violated in Cuba were, in part, politically motivated for reasons best known to the government of Fidel Castro. However, in *433my opinion that does not mean that these laws become unenforceable as political persecution.
The Court will concede that sentences [for treason and desertion] appear to be harsh in CubaQ] however, the Court is also mindful of the fact that our own government has imposed the severest of sentences for desertion in war time upon deserters of its military service. For example, during the closing stages of World War II and at the direction of no less a figure than General of the Army and later to be President Dwight David Eisenhower, Private Slovik was executed for desertion. He was sent before a firing squad with Eisenhower’s approval.
It is true from the literature that executions continue in Cuba today. They have, however, in later years diminished. Nevertheless, this Court cannot take on the burden of assessing criminal penalties in a foreign country in the guise of political persecution. The penalty for treason has always been severe. For example, in 17th Century England, the penalty for treason[,] which generally was an assault upon the monarch, was hanging, drawing and quartering. That, be it remembered, was in a civilized country.
Supplementary Oral Decision of the Immigration Judge, Aug. 9,1990, at 5-7.
I do not mean this as a general indictment of the INS, an agency of the United States Government toward which I feel respect and gratitude. When my family and I arrived in this country — also refugees from Communism — we were treated by the INS with dignity and compassion. I believe that the great majority of those who deal with the agency have similar experiences. But agencies are run by people and people make mistakes. Review by a tribunal outside the agency helps correct these rare but tragic errors. In the case of Rodriguez, this may mean the difference between life and death; the effort is surely worth the candle.