## Facts

- Aleksandr Pan, a native and citizen of the Kyrgyz Republic, is an ethnic Korean and an Evangelical Christian.
- Pan entered the United States on a visitor visa in 2008 and sought asylum in 2009 based on persecution tied to his ethnicity and religion.
- As a child, Pan was beaten and harassed at school because classmates knew he was an Evangelical Christian; school administrators dismissed his parents’ complaints as a normal school occurrence.
- Neighbors attacked the family’s property by killing the family dog and setting the family fence on fire.
- Police interrupted religious services held in the family home and detained and questioned Pan’s father and other attendees for several hours.
- The family relocated multiple times due to continuing harassment; Pan later helped with proselytizing connected to a church his father built and opened.
- In high school, classmates assaulted Pan while using a religious slur, causing him to miss a week of school.
- In 2005, Pan and a friend were beaten while distributing church pamphlets; bystanders did not intervene or call police, and Pan did not report the incident due to perceived police corruption.
- The record included additional beatings, including at least one that resulted in hospitalization.
- Pan’s aunt (who had obtained asylum in the United States) testified and submitted an affidavit describing similar violence in Kyrgyzstan and police non-responsiveness toward Evangelical Christians and ethnic Koreans.

## Issues

1. Whether the agency adequately explained its conclusion that multiple beatings, including one resulting in hospitalization, were not severe enough to constitute past persecution.
2. Whether the agency improperly failed to consider material evidence—particularly Pan’s aunt’s testimony and affidavit—bearing on whether Kyrgyz authorities were unwilling or unable to protect Pan from private persecutors.
3. Whether the agency’s reasoning satisfied the requirement of reasoned decisionmaking in evaluating asylum and withholding claims.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit granted the petition for review.
- The court vacated the agency decision in relevant part and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that the IJ and BIA did not adequately explain why the physical harm Pan suffered was insufficiently severe to qualify as persecution.
- The court held that the IJ and BIA failed to consider significant record evidence supporting a finding that Kyrgyz police were unwilling or unable to protect Pan from private actors.
- The court required the agency on remand to reassess past persecution and state protection while addressing the material evidence and providing a reasoned explanation.

## Legal Principles

- Past persecution may be established by repeated, targeted physical attacks motivated by protected characteristics; when an applicant presents serious violence (including hospitalization), the agency must clearly explain any conclusion that the harm does not rise to persecution.
- Where harm is inflicted by private actors, asylum and withholding relief require a showing that the government is unwilling or unable to control the persecutors.
- The agency must consider all material evidence in the record, including corroborating witness testimony and affidavits, and may not ignore evidence that bears directly on governmental protection.
- A decision that fails to address significant evidence or fails to provide a reasoned explanation for key determinations warrants vacatur and remand.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit vacated and remanded because the agency did not give a reasoned explanation for rejecting past persecution in the face of repeated beatings and did not meaningfully consider evidence indicating that Kyrgyz authorities were unwilling or unable to protect Pan from religion- and ethnicity-motivated private violence.


Pan v. Holder, 777 F.3d 540 (2d Cir. 2015)