Caption: Castro-Martinez v. Holder, 674 F.3d 1073 (9th Cir. 2011).
Facts: Mexican native, Rafael Castro-Martinez (“Castro”), resided in the U.S illegally since 1995. Castro, who is homosexual, was diagnosed as HIV-positive in 2004. In 2007, he went back to his native country for two weeks. Upon re-entering the United States, Castro turned himself into the immigration authorities at the border crossing and requested asylum.
Castro filed a petition for asylum on the basis of past persecution because of his sexual orientation and fear of future persecution and torture on the same account and his HIV-positive status. His past persecution claim was based on the sexual abuse he encountered as a child; Castro was teased, harassed, and raped
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§1101(a)(40)(A).
Rule of Law: No. To become eligible for asylum, an alien must be deemed a refugee, meeting the following criteria:
Any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that country 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.A. §1101(a)(40)(A).
Analysis: Persecution has been established as causing harm or suffering, which is regarded as offensive, on a protected account. Prasad v. INS, 47 F.3d 336, 339 (9th Cir. 1995). Eligibility for asylum is based on being classified as a refugee. To be classified as a refugee as stated in §1101(a)(40)(A), the harmful offense must have been performed by the government, someone, or some group that the government is unable or unwilling to control. Sangha v. INS, 103 F.3d 1482, 1487 (9th Cir. 1997). Castro’s claim, that it would have been unreasonably dangerous to expose his abuse, was not substantially corroborated by the evidence as Mexican law does not allow discrimination against sexual