The Ninth Circuit has addressed the asylum claim of a Salvadoran pastor who refused to try to influence his congregation to vote for the FMLN party. “The record also compels us to conclude that Aleman satisfies the second element: the FMLN attacked Aleman because of his political-opinion-based refusal to use his role in the church to influence El Salvadoran politics.”
“The IJ’s determination that the attack on Aleman was not inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity because the FMLN had lost in local elections five days before the attack is not supported by substantial evidence. The IJ recognized that the torture Aleman suffered was at the hands of FMLN agents. Aleman was attacked five days after the FMLN lost the local election and was asked at gunpoint why he had not accepted the FMLN’s proposal. He asserts that the FMLN still controlled local government in Lourdes Colon immediately after the elections that displaced them, and supports this assertion with unrebutted testimony. In short, the IJ’s finding that no public official was involved in the torture because the FMLN had lost in the local election five days prior lacks support and is contradicted by the record.
The full text of Aleman-Belloso v. Garland can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2024/11/13/23-114.pdf