Singh
Singh v. Gonzales
Opinion
Lead Opinion
MEMORANDUM **
The Board of Immigration Appeals found that Singh had “actively participated in persecutory acts,” implicitly incorporating the Immigration Judge’s conclusion that he had persecuted others on account of their political opinion and nationality. The record does not support this legal conclusion.
The law is clear. “Persecution occurring because a person is a current member of a police force or the military, however, is ‘not on account of one of the grounds enumerated in the Act.’ ” Cruz-Navarro v. INS, 282 F.3d 1024, 1029 (9th Cir.2000) (quoting Aguilar-Escobar v. INS, 136 F.3d 1240, 1241 (9th Cir.1998)). A military group is usually organized along political or nationality lines. That does not convert persecution of its members into persecution based on an enumerated ground. We must still ask what the persecutor’s motive was in attacking members of this group. Vukmirovic v. Ashcroft, 362 F.3d 1247 (9th Cir.2004). Here, Singh credibly testified that the POWs were persecuted for their membership in the army. 1 The record before us does not establish that the persecution was based on either an imputed political opinion or nationality.