Matter of D-V-

D-V- (plaintiff) was a 27-year-old female citizen of Haiti who had supported its former president, Jean Bertrand Aristide. During Aristide’s administration, D-V- had worked in a government office until she had to quit her job due to issues with an anti-Aristide coworker. D-V-’s coworker constantly threatened that D-V- would pay after Aristide’s administration ended. Indeed, according to an advisory opinion on human rights in Haiti published by the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Aristide’s past and current activist supporters were at risk, especially if participating in political activities. Aristide had also started and supported a church group of which D-V- was a member. Church members secured funds from the United States and gave them to the government. After Aristide fell from power, soldiers surrounded D-V-’s church, taking away a member, whose death was reported the next day. Subsequently, soldiers went to D-V-’s home and gang-raped her. The soldiers knew her nickname and her church membership and identified D-V- as Aristide’s supporter. After three of the soldiers beat and raped D-V-, they left, threatening to come back if she reported their actions. D-V- went into hiding until she fled to America, where she sought asylum. However, an immigration judge (IJ) denied D-V-’s application, holding that she lacked a well-founded fear of persecution based on political opinion because she was not a high-profile supporter of Aristide. The IJ ruled that D-V- feared only general violence in Haiti and was merely speculating that she would be beaten, raped, or killed by the same soldiers who had attacked her before. The IJ denied both asylum and withholding from removal and ordered D-V- deported. D-V- appealed.