## Facts

- Vicente Osorio, a Guatemalan national, worked for the Guatemala City municipal water department.
- Osorio joined the Central Municipal Workers Union (SCTM) in 1984 and later served on the SCTM’s Executive Committee.
- The SCTM called a general strike in November 1986.
- Osorio testified that, before the strike, fellow union workers were threatened, shot, and killed by unidentified men, and that violence against union members continued after the strike through 1987.
- After the November 1986 strike, Osorio and about 75 other union workers were fired from their municipal jobs.
- In December 1988, Osorio received an anonymous note at his home warning him to stop his union activities “before something serious happened” to him.
- In January 1989, Angel Melgar, described as a former rebel, stated publicly that trade unions had been infiltrated by communists; Osorio feared this would expose him to government retaliation.
- In March 1989, Osorio and his wife entered the United States without authorization from Guatemala, leaving without an exit permit.
- The INS initiated deportation proceedings; Osorio conceded deportability and applied for asylum and, alternatively, withholding of deportation.
- An immigration judge denied asylum and withholding but granted voluntary departure; the BIA affirmed, reasoning that Osorio’s dispute with the Guatemalan authorities was economic rather than political and that he had not shown political persecution.

## Issues

1. Whether the BIA erred by treating anti-union retaliation and threats tied to a labor dispute with the government as purely “economic,” rather than persecution “on account of” political opinion.
2. Whether persecution that is connected to both union-related economic conflict and (actual or imputed) political opinion can satisfy the INA’s protected-ground requirement.
3. Whether Osorio established a well-founded fear of persecution in Guatemala on account of political opinion.
4. Whether union membership or leadership may qualify as membership in a “particular social group” under the INA.
5. Whether the record established that it was more likely than not that Osorio’s life or freedom would be threatened in Guatemala on account of a protected ground, requiring withholding of deportation.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit granted Osorio’s petition for review and reversed the BIA.
- The court held that the BIA applied an unlawfully narrow view of “persecution on account of political opinion” by treating the claim as only an economic dispute and by failing to consider the political meaning attributed to union activity in Guatemala.
- The court concluded that Osorio showed eligibility for asylum based on persecution tied to his union leadership and the likelihood that his persecutors attributed to him a political opinion (including an opinion imputed to him).
- The court ordered that withholding of deportation be granted.

## Legal Principles

- “Persecution on account of political opinion” is not limited to formal party politics; it can include retaliation where the persecutor targets union activists because their activity is viewed as political opposition.
- A labor dispute’s economic features do not bar asylum when the applicant shows that harm was motivated, at least in part, by the applicant’s actual or imputed political opinion.
- The INA does not require that a protected ground be the sole motive for persecution; mixed motives can satisfy the statute when a protected ground is a motivating factor.
- Persecutor motive may be proven through circumstantial evidence, including patterns of violence, the applicant’s role, and country conditions; direct admissions by persecutors are not required.
- Political opinion includes opinion imputed to the applicant by the persecutor, such as labeling union leaders as communists or subversives.
- Withholding of deportation requires a higher showing than asylum (a clear probability that life or freedom would be threatened), and a record of targeted firings, specific threats, and anti-union violence can satisfy that standard.

## Conclusion

Osorio v. Immigration and Naturalization Service holds that the BIA may not dismiss union-related violence and retaliation in Guatemala as merely an economic conflict when the evidence shows union leadership can be treated by authorities and allied actors as political opposition, including through imputed political views; because Osorio’s record showed targeted firings, continuing violence against union members, and a specific written threat in a context linking unions to communism, the Second Circuit found him eligible for asylum and ordered withholding of deportation.


Osorio v. Immigration and Naturalization Service, 18 F.3d 1017 (1994)