Corado v. Ashcroft, 03-1702.

• Decision Date: 07 October 2004
• Docket Number: No. 03-1702.,03-1702.
• Citation: 384 F.3d 945
• Parties: Aminta Barco CORADO; Karen Aquino Barco; Jose Aquino Barco, Petitioners, v. John ASHCROFT, Attorney General of the United States of America, Respondent.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit

384 F.3d 945

Aminta Barco CORADO; Karen Aquino Barco; Jose Aquino Barco, Petitioners, v. John ASHCROFT, Attorney General of the United States of America, Respondent.

No. 03-1702.

United States Court of Appeals, Eighth Circuit.

Submitted: August 6, 2004.

Filed: October 7, 2004.

Petition for review from the Board of Immigration Appeals.

Counsel who represented the appellant was Evelyn G. Zneimer of Los Angeles, CA.

Counsel who represented the appellee was Elizabeth J. Stevens, Office of Immigration Litigation, USDOJ, Washington, DC.

Before MELLOY, LAY, and COLLOTON, Circuit Judges.

PER CURIAM.

Aminta Barco Corado (Barco Corado) and her children Karen Aquino Barco (Karen) and Jose Aquino Barco (Jose), citizens of Guatemala, petition for review of an order of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirming an immigration judge's denial of their applications for asylum and withholding of removal. We grant the petition and remand the case to the BIA for further proceedings.

Barco Corado testified that in her native village in Guatemala, she was a visible member of an opposition political party, the Union del Centro Nacional (UCN), during 1993 and 1994. She testified that she was raised by her uncle, Humberto Quinones Corado, a prominent party member. She explained that her uncle was murdered on February 14, 1994, and that she found him as he lay dying from gunshot wounds. She said that she was told that policemen aligned with the predominant political party, Movimiento de Accion Solidaria (MAS), were responsible for the murder, and that her uncle was targeted because of his UCN affiliation. Almost immediately after the murder, according to her testimony, Barco Corado was visited in her home on four occasions by MAS members who told her that she and her children would be harmed or killed unless she provided information about UCN. She testified that on each visit the threats escalated, and that on the fourth, she was beaten and told by four men wearing MAS armbands that she would "end up dead like [her] uncle" if she did not leave the country. Barco Corado testified that she and the children fled Guatemala two days later, and that she applied for asylum within three months of her arrival.

An alien is eligible for asylum if she establishes that she is unwilling to return to her country of nationality "because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion." 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A). The BIA is entitled to deference in interpreting ambiguous statutory terms such as "persecution," so long as its interpretation is reasonable and consistent with the statute. INS v. Aguirre-Aguirre, 526 U.S. 415, 424, 119 S.Ct. 1439, 143 L.Ed.2d 590 (1999). If the BIA applies a permissible legal standard, then we will overturn a factual finding only if the evidence is so compelling that no reasonable factfinder could fail to conclude that the alien suffered past persecution. INS v. Elias-Zacarias, 502 U.S. 478, 483-84, 112 S.Ct. 812, 117 L.Ed.2d 38 (1992).

The immigration judge in this case concluded that Barco Corado had failed to establish that she suffered past persecution in Guatemala on account of her political opinion. In so concluding, the immigration judge made no credibility findings regarding her testimony. Instead, he reasoned that "the single alleged incident involving four MAS members at her home in early 1994 [does not] constitute a pattern and practice of mistreatment that rises to the level of persecution." (R. 104).

Barco Corado argues that the immigration judge adopted an impermissible definition of "persecution," and we agree. To be sure, we have said that minor beatings and brief detentions do not necessarily constitute "persecution," Eusebio v. Ashcroft, 361 F.3d 1088, 1091 (8th Cir.2004); Al-Tawm v. Ashcroft, 363 F.3d 740, 743 (8th Cir.2004), and that the BIA may consider whether an act of violence by the government is an isolated event or part of a continuing effort to persecute a specific individual. Ngure v. Ashcroft, 367 F.3d 975, 990 (8th Cir.2004). But while the alleged beating of Barco Corado at her home did not require outside medical attention, (R. 172), she also testified that government agents threatened her with death on account of her political activity, and invoked the recent death of her uncle, Humberto Quinonez Corado, implying that the government was responsible for his murder.

We have never held that a specific, credible, and immediate threat of death on account of political opinion is outside the definition of "persecution," just because it occurs during a single incident. We consistently have defined persecution to include "the infliction or threat of death" on account of a factor enumerated in the statute, without any suggestion of a "pattern and practice" requirement. Rife v. Ashcroft, 374 F.3d 606, 612 (8th Cir.2004); Ngure, 367 F.3d at 989-90; Al-Tawm, 363 F.3d at 743; Regalado-Garcia v. INS, 305 F.3d 784, 787 (8th Cir.2002). The BIA itself has concluded that where an alien presents direct and uncontradicted testimony "that he and his immediate family members were singled out and threatened with death," and where the alien's testimony "established a link between the threatened harm and his political beliefs," then the alien had "good reason to fear persecution." Matter of Villalta, 20 I. & N. Dec. 142, 147 (BIA 1990). It may...