Johan Sumolang v. Eric H. Holder Jr.

Can a parent applying for asylum or withholding of removal show that she has been persecuted based on suffering or harm inflicted on her child? That question arises here because the strongest evidence supporting the claims of the petitioner, Berawati Notoredjo, involved the death of her three-month-old daughter. In ruling that Ms. Notoredjo had not shown past persecution, the immigration judge (IJ) refused to give any weight to that evidence. The IJ framed the legal principle guiding his decision in these terms: “the alien cannot claim persecution as to a relative and, by virtue of that persecution, assert that he himself was persecuted thereby.” We believe this legal principle was misapplied in Ms. Notoredjo’s case and grant in part her petition for review.

I

Ms. Notoredjo is a native and citizen of Indonesia who is Christian and of Chinese descent, a minority group that has faced a long history of violence and discrimination in Indonesia. See Sael v. Ashcroft, 386 F.3d 922, 925-27 (9th Cir.2004). Because of her race and religion, Ms. Notoredjo was repeatedly discriminated against at school, heckled with anti-Chinese slurs as she walked to school, and harassed and…