Hernandez

MEMORANDUM **

Jose Roberto Hernandez, a native and citizen of El Salvador, appeals the decision of the BIA to deny asylum and withholding of deportation. Hernandez claims that ex-guerrillas will assassinate him on the basis of his past military service if he is deported to El Salvador. We reverse the BIA’s holding that Hernandez’s fear is not objectively reasonable.

According to his asylum application, Hernandez entered the United States on May 7, 1994. On May 1, 1996, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (“INS”) issued an Order to Show Cause charging Hernandez with deportability pursuant to Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) former § 241(a)(1)(B), 8 U.S.C. former § 1251(a)(1)(B), for entering the United States without inspection. 1 On October 2, 1996, Hernandez conceded deportability before an immigration judge (“IJ”), and requested asylum, withholding of deportation and voluntary departure in the alternative.

At the hearing on the merits of his claims for relief from deportation, Hernandez testified that he had served as a corporal in the Salvadoran army, during which time his unit detained a suspected guerrilla and thereafter was threatened and attacked by…