## Facts

- S-P-, a Sri Lankan Tamil welder, lived with his wife in a Red Cross refugee camp in northern Sri Lanka during the civil conflict.
- The LTTE forcibly took him from the camp and compelled him to work as a welder at LTTE sites, returning him to the camp at night with limited ability to escape.
- In March 1994, the Sri Lankan Army attacked the LTTE camp and captured S-P- and other forced workers, believing they were LTTE members or supporters.
- The government detained S-P- for about six months and repeatedly interrogated, threatened, and beat him.
- An uncle secured S-P-’s release by bribing a guard; shortly thereafter, police came to S-P-’s home looking for him, suggesting continuing government interest.
- S-P- left Sri Lanka and applied for asylum and withholding; an Immigration Judge denied relief, and S-P- appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

## Issues

1. Whether, in a mixed-motive context, S-P- established that his detention and abuse were inflicted “on account of” a protected ground, where the government also sought intelligence about guerrillas.
2. Whether persecution based on an imputed political opinion (rather than the applicant’s actual beliefs) satisfies the refugee definition’s nexus requirement.
3. How persecutor motive should be evaluated where the state asserts security justifications amid general civil unrest.

## Decision

- The BIA denied the government’s motion for summary dismissal and sustained S-P-’s appeal.
- The BIA reversed the denial of asylum and granted asylum.
- The BIA held that the government’s detention and abuse were motivated not only by information-gathering aims, but also by an imputed political opinion—an assumption that S-P- held views hostile to the government due to his association with an LTTE camp.
- The BIA concluded that S-P- established past persecution on account of a protected ground in a mixed-motive case.

## Legal Principles

- Persecution “on account of” a protected ground includes persecution based on an imputed protected characteristic, including imputed political opinion.
- In mixed-motive cases, an applicant need not conclusively prove the persecutor’s motive; the applicant must present direct or circumstantial evidence from which it is reasonable to believe a protected ground motivated the harm in part.
- In contexts of civil conflict, motive may be inferred by considering: perpetrators’ statements or actions; abuse or punishment disproportionate to nonpolitical ends; treatment of similarly situated persons; compliance with ordinary criminal or military procedures; and use of security or antiterrorism measures to suppress political opposition through arbitrary detention and abuse.
- Severe detention, threats, and repeated beatings can constitute persecution when excessive relative to any legitimate security objective and linked to political suspicion.

## Conclusion

The BIA granted asylum because the Sri Lankan government’s prolonged detention and severe abuse of S-P- reflected, at least in part, an imputed political opinion, and the record supported nexus despite the government’s asserted security-related motives in a civil-war setting.


Matter of S-P-, 21 I. & N. Dec. 486 (B.I.A. 1996)