Eduard v. Ashcroft

Jopie Eduard and his wife, Yuliana Pakkung (plaintiffs), were Indonesian citizens. Eduard was of Manado ethnicity, although people mistook him for Chinese, and his wife was of Chinese ancestry. Both Eduard and his wife were Christians, and they sought asylum in the United States (defendant), citing a well-founded fear of persecution. Eduard cited an incident in which someone used a rock to hit him on the head as he walked to church. Eduard could not identify the attacker but assumed that the assailant was Muslim. Eduard also cited being harassed by a Muslim on a bus who called him a pork eater. Pakkung testified about harassment in school by Muslim students and the stoning of her friend’s school bus, which she did not witness. Pakkung also cited how, as a child, her grandparents attempted to force her to convert from Christianity to Islam and beat her when she would not pray Muslim prayers. Pakkung stated in her application that she feared returning because of the persecution of Christians by Muslims and the lack of government control over the violence. Pakkung cited killings of Christians throughout Indonesia and feared a group, Laskar Jihad, that forced conversions to Islam. Eduard cited the risk posed to Christians by the Muslim majority, a risk such that Christians, including his siblings, feared to attend church. Another witness noted that in addition to violence and forced conversions, churches were often burned. The immigration judge (IJ) declined to grant asylum, citing a general climate of violence in Indonesia. Even though the IJ made findings of fact that Christians were being persecuted in Indonesia, he nonetheless ruled that the applicants’ experiences did not demonstrate past persecution. Also, the IJ ruled that the applicants had failed to establish a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of race or religion because they had failed to show that they had been targeted in the past on account of their race or religion. The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed, and Eduard and Pakkung appealed.