Court Opinion

ID: 9488220
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 12:39:16.631109+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:52:45.556865
License: Public Domain

DAUGHTREY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
The majority relies on the Supreme Court’s recent decision in INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992), to support its conclusion that the petitioner, a former informant for pro-government Sri Lankan officials, does not have a “well-founded fear of persecution on account of ... political opinion” entitling him to refugee status. Because I conclude that the facts of this case are easily distinguishable from those presented in Elias-Zacarias, and because Adhiyappa has shown with compelling evidence that he fears persecution on account of his political opinion, I must dissent.
In Elias-Zacarias, a Guatemalan citizen fled his homeland after guerrilla soldiers unsuccessfully tried to draft him into their rebel army. Although the Board of Immigration Appeals denied the petitioner refugee status, the Ninth Circuit reversed, finding that the petitioner had a well-founded fear of persecution based on his expressed political opinion of neutrality toward the guerrilla movement. 921 F.2d 844, 850 (9th Cir.1990). The Supreme Court rejected this reasoning, however, finding insufficient evidence to establish that the guerrillas would persecute the petitioner “because of that political opinion, rather than because of his refusal to fight with them.” 502 U.S. at 483, 112 S.Ct. at 816 (emphasis in original). Although the Court insisted that it was not requiring “direct proof’ of the alleged persecutors’ motives, it found that to reverse the Board of Immigration Appeals’s finding that the petitioner was ineligible for asylum, the petitioner would have to show proof of the alleged persecu*269tor’s motive “so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution” based on political opinion. Id. at 483, 112 S.Ct. at 816. On the facts before it, the Supreme Court believed that the petitioner failed to meet his burden of proving that the guerrillas’ motive was to persecute him on account of his political opinion. The Court observed that:
Even a person who supports a guerrilla movement might resist recruitment for a variety of reasons — fear of combat, a desire to remain with one’s family and friends, a desire to earn a better living in civilian life, to mention only a few. The record in the present case not only failed to show a political motive on Elias-Zacha-rias’ part; it showed the opposite. He testified that he refused to joint the guerrillas because he was afraid that the government would retaliate against him and his family if he did so. Nor is there any indication (assuming, arguendo, it would suffice) that the guerrillas erroneously believed that Elias-Zaeharias’ refusal was politically based.
Id. at 482, 112 S.Ct. at 815-16 (emphasis in original). Thus, the Court found insufficient evidence that the petitioner’s refusal to fight was a manifestation of his political opinion, and that his political opinion was targeted for persecution.
In Adhiyappa’s case, the Board of Immigration Appeals found that Adhiyappa feared persecution based on his activities as a government informant, not persecution based on his political opinion. The Board stated that “it is reasonable to assume that the retaliation would occur regardless of what political opinion, if any, the respondent held.” The majority, too, seems to accept the proposition that Adhiyappa fears persecution based on his political activity, as contrasted to his political opinion. The majority uses Elias-Za-carias to support its view. However, the facts of that case and its ultimate holding readily distinguish it from the facts at hand.
Elias-Zacarias focused on the burden of proof necessary for a petitioner to show that any alleged persecution is based on the petitioner’s political opinion. It demanded “some evidence, direct or circumstantial,” of the persecutor’s motive and, in a reversal of the Board, proof “so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to find the requisite fear of persecution” based on political opinion. 502 U.S. at 483, 112 S.Ct. at 817. When an asylum-seeker has remained neutral and disassociated with any identifiable political faction, as did Elias-Zaeharias, identification of the petitioner’s political opinion is difficult. As the Supreme Court acknowledged in Elias-Zacarias, one might refuse to join a rebel military group for many reasons; often neutrality does not have a voice. When the petitioner’s motive cannot be identified, proof of the persecutor’s motive may be even more difficult. In cases involving petitioners who claim persecution based on their neutrality, therefore, the Court indicated that it will not assume that neutrality is a manifestation of a political opinion that is targeted for persecution.
This case, however, differs from those cases involving asylum-seekers who allege persecution based on their neutrality, but who have not displayed a clear political opinion that their persecutors attack. In this case, as the Board acknowledged, Adhiyappa was a member of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress, a union which sought to help Indian Tamil Communities and which opposed a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka. He testified that he and his family had always supported a unified Sri Lanka despite persecution of Indian Tamils by majority Sinhalese. In his position as a university professor, he articulated his anti-separatist politics and was actively engaged in the identification of Tamil terrorists, reporting them to pro-government university officials.
The majority claims that Adhiyappa’s motives were unclear and that he may have acted simply to keep his job. Under Elias-Zacarias, however, Adhiyappa’s motives are irrelevant, except as they elucidate the motives of his alleged persecutors. Instead, it is the motives of the alleged persecutors that are pertinent. And here, the Tamil separatists made clear their intent to kill any who actively opposed their separatist movement by informing on them. The majority insists that 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A) gives refugee status to “individuals who are persecuted on *270account of their political opinion, but it does not include all individuals who are persecuted because their actions tend to obstruct the activities of politically-motivated organizations, even where those activities may be in part motivated by political opinion.” But, it is difficult to see how persecutors can identify targets of persecution based on political opinion, except through political expression and activity. Unlike race, political opinion is perceived only by its expression. Thus, when acts such as those of Adhiyappa so clearly express a political opinion, persecution on account of those actions is persecution on account of political opinion.
Other cases reflect this reasoning. In a case decided after Elias-Zacarias, the Second Circuit reversed the Board of Immigration Appeals’s denial of refugee status to a Peruvian petitioner who had been a member of a municipal governing body and had spoken out against the “Shining Path,” a communist guerrilla organization. Sotelo-Aquije v. Slattery, 17 F.3d 33 (2d Cir.1994). As a result of his activity, the Shining Path had threatened to kill the petitioner unless he resigned his government position. The petitioner sought asylum in the United States, but the Board denied refugee status, reasoning that the Shining Path had threatened the petitioner because of his political position, not his political beliefs. The Second Circuit rejected that reasoning, insisting that the applicant “had a well-founded fear of persecution on account of his acts and expressions of political opposition to the Shining Path,” id. at 37, given the fact that he had spoken out against the Shining Path and that only municipal leaders who opposed the Shining Path had been threatened with violence. With obvious evidence that the petitioner’s expressions of political opinion had prompted reprisals, the court found the applicant eligible for asylum.
Similarly, in Turcios v. INS, 821 F.2d 1396 (9th Cir.1987), an El Salvadoran citizen requested asylum, claiming that he feared persecution based on his political opinion. The petitioner testified that after the government police saw him talking with a leftist university professor, the petitioner was kidnapped, imprisoned, and tortured because the police believed that he was involved with guerrilla politics. After his release, the petitioner illegally entered the United States, fearing further persecution. The Ninth Circuit interpreted the applicant’s assertions of neutrality as expressions of a political opinion which had prompted government persecution. Id. at 1401. Since the date of that opinion, Elias-Zacarias has questioned whether a petitioner can prove persecution based on political opinion by asserting neutrality as the political opinion prompting reprisal. However, in Turcios, the petitioner’s activities were more than mere manifestations of neutrality. Noting that Turcios had overtly discussed the government’s intervention in university affairs with a leftist professor, and had demonstrated publicly, the court stated that “Turcios’s actions constituted an expression of political opinion.” Id. It concluded that “[persecution because of an overt manifestation of a political opinion is persecution because of a political opinion.” Id. The level of proof in Turcios, I would submit, should easily satisfy the requirements of Elias-Za-carias.
The facts of this case are more analogous to Turcios and Sotelo-Aquije than to Elias-Zacarias. Adhiyappa clearly expressed a political opinion by informing on Tamil terrorists. The Tamil terrorists clearly expressed their intent to kill him if he did not cease his political activity. Certainly the fact that a close colleague was killed upon his return to Sri Lanka illustrates with compelling clarity that the separatists seek to persecute those who actively oppose a separate state.
Elias-Zacarias demands that in order to reverse the Board’s denial of refugee status, a petitioner for asylum must present compelling proof that the alleged persecutors seek to harm the petitioner because of his political opinion. Because I believe that the petitioner in this case has met this standard of proof, I respectfully dissent from the majority’s conclusion that he should be denied asylum.