Court Opinion

ID: 9476617
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 06:00:34.635015+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:45:24.849630
License: Public Domain

WELLFORD, Circuit Judge,
dissenting:
The Immigration Judge set forth the following pertinent facts in this case:
This record relates to a 20-year-old male respondent who is a native and citizen of El Salvador. He last entered the United States on April 4, 1982, at or near Del Rio, Texas. The respondent is charged with deportability under § 241(a)(2) of the act: entry without inspection.
At a hearing ..., the respondent, through counsel, admitted all factual allegations in the Order to Show Cause and *1532conceded deportability under the charge in question. Thus, deportability has been established based upon the admissions of the respondent alone. The respondent has filed a request for asylum ... [and] an asylum request urged during the course of a deportation hearing is also considered as a request for “withholding of deportation”____
The respondent testified that he attended the Colegio Bautista (elementary school) until 1979 at which time he enrolled in the Instituto Nacional de Santa Ana (secondary school). In March, 1979 (according to his application), he joined the Organization of Secondary Students. He stated that the purpose of this organization was to lower tuition and improve conditions in the schools. He stated that he had been involved in the distribution of pamphlets and assisting workers and students. He was involved in one protest concerning conditions in the schools. He stated that the organization is a national entity and that “almost all” Salvadoran students are members of this group.
Respondent recounted an incident which occurred August 2, 1980: a group of government officials in civilian clothing “captured” him and an associate in front of his colleagues, put them in a car, and took them away for questioning. They were struck and accused of being in anti-government groups. He stated that the men did not call for him and his associate by name, but that they were picked out of a large group of students. He said that he recognized the men as persons who had come to the school on several prior occasions with army officials. The officers told respondent and his friend that “we should work with them [so nothing would happen to us].”....
He recounted another incident where the National Police came to the school while he was playing basketball with a group of students. Two of the students were summoned and the others forced to lie down on the ground. They “captured” a colleague (“Teresa”) and after her boyfriend protested, they opened fire on him and abducted Teresa.
... He stated that the student organization assisted the worker and farmer by printing pamphlets; however, his activities pertained only to school. The government eventually took the machinery away and jailed the most active members of the group.
The respondent described the conscription policies of the Salvadoran government. He stated that the legal age for the draft is 18 but that students of 14 and 15 years are routinely picked upon on the streets by army units and impressed into service. He stated that there were frequent visits made by army personnel where they attempted to recruit students. He stated in his testimony that he objected to violence and had a moral objection to military service. He admitted upon questioning by the trial attorney that he also simply did not want to go into the army.
Respondent stated that he fears persecution if returned to El Salvador because of his student activities, his possibility of being drafted, and due to the increased risk in Santa Ana because of the size of the city and the large number of military installation^].
He testified that he fled to Mexico where he worked for more than one year. He stated that the Mexican government did not know of his existence and that he would have been considered to be an illegal migrant. He left Mexico and came to the United States in April of 1982. [He admitted that he entered the United States because of economic opportunities, not because of a fear of persecution.]
Respondent's testimony was substantially corroborated by Hugo Ernesto Gonzalez.....
Professor William Melvin testified that it is reasonable and rational for a young male to seek protection from the activities in El Salvador.....
... The overt clashes between the guerrillas and government forces and the clandestine violence of unknown origin *1533make for a dangerous situation for both the combatants and the private citizens. Due to their amenability to military service, young males bear a greater burden than the rest of society.
Petitioner seeks appellate review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of his requests for asylum and withholding of deportation. The Immigration Judge and the Board both decided that the requests must fail regardless of the standard of review applied. The proper standard of review in this circuit seemed uncertain after Yousif v. INS, 794 F.2d 236 (6th Cir.1986), Dawood-Haio v. INS, 800 F.2d 90 (6th Cir.1986), and Youkhanna v. INS, 749 F.2d 360 (6th Cir.1984), when this case was argued. The Supreme Court has now decided the standard to apply. The petitioner must establish a “ ‘well-founded fear of persecution,’ ” which is a more generous standard than showing “a clear probability of persecution.” INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, - U.S. -, 107 S.Ct. 1207, 1222, 94 L.Ed.2d 434 (1987).
Our court in Youkhanna and Yousif adopted the same standard which was later established in Cardoza-Fonseca in dealing with the request for an alleged “refugee” for “asylum” status. In these cases, and a number of others involving petitions of Iraqi citizens in this country who seek asylum from the possibility (or probability) of persecution in Iraq, or fear of serving in its armed forces which have been engaged in a major war for many years, our court had required “credible subjective evidence ... [which] may be based upon group characteristics.” Yousif, 794 F.2d at 244. We have emphasized that subjective fears must be well-founded and that petitioner must show that “he is being singled out for persecution.” Id. In Youkhanna, this court stated that the “well founded fear” standard involves the requirement of specific facts or detailed information showing “good reason to fear persecution.” 749 F.2d at 362. Evidence in these and other Iraqi refugee or alien cases in this circuit have involved strong indicia of both political and religious persecution and fear of being involved in persistent warfare between major contending forces, and yet we have consistently affirmed denial of asylum in these cases. I see no reason to apply different and more lenient standards in cases of refugees from El Salvador, where in recent years we may take judicial notice that a more democratically inclined government has been popularly elected to seek to bring an end to civil conflict there.
In this case, as previously stated, both the Immigration Judge and the Board have found petitioner not to be entitled to relief regardless of whether the more lenient “well-founded fear of persecution” principle were to be applied, rather than a more stringent one. The State Department, having been consulted, rendered an advisory opinion unfavorable to petitioner’s contentions (as in the Iraqi cases). The Immigration Judge decided that petitioner’s claim “must fall under even the most lenient standard,” (J/A 112), and that “he has nonetheless failed in his burden under any standard.” (J/A 113) (emphasis added). The Board of Immigration Appeals has confirmed the Immigration Judge’s determination.
Review has not been foreclosed in this case under the more lenient “well-founded fear” standard adopted in Cardoza-Fonseca. I am satisfied that the Board has properly evaluated petitioner’s asylum claim, and that it has considered the entire record in making its decision. Petitioner has established little more than a desire to avoid military service and the fact that he is in the age group likely to be called on to serve. He has shown only that he was a student, and a member of a group to which most Salvadoran students belong, the purposes of which were to lower tuition and to improve conditions in the schools. Like many others, sadly, he also had witnessed, and had been victim of, an assault by persons he believed to be members of a police group.
I would AFFIRM the Board’s decision.