Summary
The Ninth Circuit granted a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' denial of asylum, withholding of removal, and Convention Against Torture relief for a Salvadoran national. The panel found that substantial evidence did not support the Agency's conclusion that the petitioner failed to establish a nexus between his persecution and his political opinion or membership in a particular social group. Additionally, the court held that the Agency improperly mischaracterized the proposed social group and failed to consider probative evidence regarding government involvement in or acquiescence to the petitioner's past torture. The case was remanded for further proceedings on these claims.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether Aleman established a nexus between his persecution and protected grounds of political opinion and particular social group.
- Whether the BIA erred in mischaracterizing Aleman's particular social group as circular and therefore impermissible.
- Whether the BIA erred in finding no government involvement or acquiescence for purposes of a Convention Against Torture claim.
Holdings
- The Board erred in concluding there was no nexus between Aleman's persecution and his political opinion and particular social group; the case is remanded for further determination.
- The Board erred by mischaracterizing Aleman's particular social group and by deeming it circular; the case is remanded to determine whether "influential lay ministers" qualify as a cognizable particular social group.
- The Board erred in finding no government involvement or acquiescence in Aleman's past torture; the case is remanded for the Board to reconsider the CAT claim.
Key quotations
“The record compels a finding that Aleman held two political opinions. First, he believed it was wrong to use his role as a church leader to convince church members to support the FMLN, and second, he thought that the FMLN was “ruining the country.””
“The Agency’s mischaracterization of Aleman’s particular social group led it to reject the group as “circularly defined and thus impermissible,” a holding that is reversible error.”
Factual background
Aleman-Belloso, an influential lay minister in El Salvador, was approached by members of the FMLN to use his church leadership to support the party. He refused. Days later, masked gunmen attacked him, tied him up, and threatened him for not supporting the FMLN, causing physical injury. He fled El Salvador and sought asylum in the United States.
Procedural history
The Immigration Judge denied Aleman-Belloso's claims for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed. Aleman-Belloso filed a petition for review in the Ninth Circuit.
Remand instructions
Remand to the Board of Immigration Appeals to determine whether influential El Salvadoran lay ministers qualify as a particular social group, to address government involvement or inability to control persecution, and to reconsider the Convention Against Torture claim.