Grant of Political Asylum to Baptist Sunday School Teacher from Burma
An immigration judge in Miami, Florida has granted political asylum to another one of our clients from Burma. This client is a member of the Zomi tribe which belongs to the Chin ethnic minority. He is a practicing Christian and member of the Baptist church. In 1997, he dedicated his life to the ministry and went to teach religion and the Chin language to children in a village in Sagaing Division. In 2000, the Burmese military authorities accused the villagers of supporting the Chin National Front (CNF) and threatened to burn down their village. Our client tried to intercede and convince the authorities that the villagers were not supporting the insurgency. In response, the military men beat him until he was unconscious and eventually forced him to flee the country in fear of his life. He first took refuge in Thailand and then made the long journey to the United States.
An immigration judge ruled against him the first time he appeared in court. Our client appealed. The Board of Immigration Appeals returned the case to the immigration judge and ordered him to hear it again. We handled the case on remand. We submitted numerous country reports from Human Rights Watch, the Chin Human Rights Organization and Christian Solidarity Worldwide, and an expert declaration all of which served to corroborate our client’s claims of mistreatment at the hands of the Burmese military regime. This time, the immigration judge ruled in our clients favor.
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