RELIEF FROM REMOVAL Table of Contents ASYLUM, WITHHOLDING OF REMOVAL and the CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE .................................................................................................................1 I. THE CONTEXT ..............................................................................................1 II. ASYLUM ........................................................................................................3 A. Burden of Proof .....................................................................................3 B. Defining Persecution .............................................................................5 1. Cumulative Effect of Harms ....................................................... 6 2. No Subjective Intent to Harm Required ..................................... 7 3. Forms of Persecution .................................................................. 7 a. Physical Violence ............................................................. 7 (i) Physical Violence Sufficient to Constitute Persecution ............................................................. 9 (ii) Physical Violence Insufficient to Constitute Persecution ...........................................................11 b. Torture ............................................................................11 c. Threats ............................................................................12 (i) Cases Holding Threats Establish Persecution ......12 (ii) Cases Holding Threats Not Persecution ...............14 d. Detention .........................................................................14 e. Mental, Emotional, and Psychological Harm .................15 f. Substantial Economic Deprivation .................................16 g. Discrimination and Harassment .....................................17 4. Age of the Victim ......................................................................19 C. Source or Agent of Persecution ...........................................................19 1. Harm Inflicted by Relatives ......................................................21 2. Reporting of Persecution Not Always Required.......................21 February 2021 B-i 3. Cases Discussing Source or Agent of Persecution ...................23 D. Past Persecution ...................................................................................24 1. Presumption of a Well-Founded Fear .......................................26 2. Rebutting the Presumption of a Well-Founded Fear ................27 a. Fundamental Change in Circumstances .........................27 b. Government’s Burden .....................................................28 (i) State Department Report ......................................29 (ii) Administrative Notice of Changed Country Conditions ............................................................30 c. Cases where Changed Circumstances or Conditions Insufficient to Rebut Presumption of Well-Founded Fear ........................................................................................31 d. Internal Relocation..........................................................32 3. Humanitarian Asylum ...............................................................34 a. Severe Past Persecution ..................................................35 (i) Compelling Cases of Past Persecution for Humanitarian Asylum ..........................................35 (ii) Insufficiently Severe Past Persecution for Humanitarian Asylum ..........................................36 b. Fear of Other Serious Harm............................................37 E. Well-Founded Fear of Persecution ......................................................38 1. Past Persecution Not Required..................................................39 2. Subjective Prong .......................................................................39 3. Objective Prong .........................................................................40 4. Demonstrating a Well-Founded Fear ........................................42 a. Targeted for Persecution .................................................42 b. Family Ties .....................................................................42 c. Pattern and Practice of Persecution ................................43 d. Membership in Disfavored Group ..................................44 February 2021 B-ii 5. Countrywide Persecution ..........................................................45 6. Continued Presence of Applicant..............................................47 7. Continued Presence of Family ..................................................48 8. Possession of Passport or Travel Documents ...........................49 9. Safe Return to Country of Persecution .....................................50 10. Cases Finding No Well-Founded Fear ......................................50 F. Nexus to the Five Statutorily Protected Grounds ................................51 1. Proving a Nexus ........................................................................52 a. Direct Evidence ..............................................................53 b. Circumstantial Evidence .................................................53 2. Mixed-Motive Cases .................................................................55 3. Shared Identity Between Victim and Persecutor ......................58 4. Civil Unrest and Motive ............................................................58 5. Resistance to Discriminatory Government Action ...................59 6. The Protected Grounds .............................................................59 a. Race ................................................................................59 (i) Cases Finding Racial or Ethnic Persecution ........60 (ii) Cases Finding No Racial or Ethnic Persecution ..60 b. Religion ...........................................................................61 (i) Cases Finding Religious Persecution ...................62 (ii) Cases Finding No Religious Persecution .............63 c. Nationality ......................................................................63 d. Membership in a Particular Social Group ......................64 (i) Types of Social Groups ........................................68 (A) Family and Clan .........................................68 (B) Gender-Related Claims ..............................68 (C) Sexual Orientation .....................................70 (D) Former Status or Occupation .....................71 February 2021 B-iii (ii) Cases Denying Social Group Claims ...................72 e. Political Opinion .............................................................73 (i) Organizational Membership .................................74 (ii) Refusal to Support Organization ..........................75 (iii) Labor Union Membership and Activities .............75 (iv) Opposition to Government Corruption ................76 (v) Neutrality ..............................................................79 (vi) Other Expressions of Political Opinion ................79 (vii) Imputed Political Opinion ....................................80 (A) Family Association ....................................80 (B) No Evidence of Legitimate Prosecutorial Purpose .......................................................81 (C) Government Employees .............................82 (D) Other Cases Discussing Imputed Political Opinion .......................................................82 (viii) Opposition to Coercive Population Control Policies .................................................................84 (A) Forced Abortion .........................................85 (B) Forced Sterilization ....................................86 (C) Other Resistance to a Coercive Population Control Policy ............................................87 (D) Family Members ........................................88 f. Prosecution .....................................................................89 (i) Pretextual Prosecution ..........................................90 (ii) Illegal Departure Laws .........................................90 g. Military and Conscription Issues ....................................91 (i) Conscription Generally Not Persecution ..............91 (ii) Exceptions ............................................................92 (A) Disproportionately Severe Punishment .....92 February 2021 B-iv (B) Inhuman Conduct .......................................92 (C) Moral or Religious Grounds ......................93 (iii) Participation in Coup ............................................93 (iv) Military Informers ................................................93 (v) Military or Law Enforcement Membership .........93 (A) Current Status .............................................93 (B) Former Status .............................................94 (vi) Non-Governmental Conscription .........................94 h. Cases Concluding No Nexus to a Protected Ground ......95 G. Exercise of Discretion .........................................................................96 H. Remanding Under INS v. Ventura .......................................................98 I. Derivative Asylees ............................................................................101 J. Bars to Asylum ..................................................................................102 1. One-Year Bar ..........................................................................102 a. Exceptions to the Deadline ...........................................104