David

MEMORANDUM **

Petitioner seeks review of a decision denying her asylum in the United States. For the reasons set forth below, we grant the petition in part and remand for further proceedings.

The petitioner in this case, Julia David (“David”), is an ethnic Chinese, Christian woman from Indonesia. Her application for asylum rests on the claim that she has a well-founded fear of persecution on account of her ethnicity and religion. See 8 C.F.R. § 208.13 (b)(2). At her removal proceedings, David testified to the hostile treatment she endured in Indonesia. The immigration judge (“IJ”), however, rejected David’s argument that she had demonstrated a well-founded fear of persecution and ruled that she was statutorily ineligible for asylum. Accordingly, the IJ denied David’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief pursuant to the Convention Against Torture. The Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) affirmed.

The IJ and the BIA did not apply our decision in Kotasz v. INS, 31 F.3d 847, 853 (9th Cir.1994), which bears directly on the legal issues presented by David on appeal. In Kotasz , we held that when aliens are member of “disfavored groups” in the society from which…