Facts
Cardoza-Fonseca entered the United States in 1979 as a visitor from Nicaragua. She overstayed her visa, and the INS began proceedings to deport her. She admitted that she was in the United States illegally, but applied for two forms of relief in the deportation hearings—asylum and withholding of deportation. Under U.S. law, the INS has discretion to grant asylum to an alien eligible for that relief, but must withhold deportation if the alien is eligible for that kind of relief.
To support her request for asylum, Cardoza said that her brother had been tortured by the Sandinistas because of his political activities in Nicaragua. They believed that the Sandinistas knew they had fled Nicaragua together, and that even though Cardoza had not been politically active herself, she feared she would be interrogated about her brother's whereabouts and activities if she should return to Nicaragua. She also mentioned that her own political opposition to the Sandinistas would be brought to the attention of the government. For this reason, Cardoza feared she would be tortured if she returned to Nicaragua.
An immigration judge denied her requests for asylum and withholding of deportation, believing that the same legal standard applied to both claims. The judge found that Cardoza had not established a clear probability of persecution, and thus was not entitled to either asylum or withholding of deportation. The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) agreed with these conclusions.
Cardoza appealed only the denial of her claim for asylum to the Ninth Circuit. The Ninth Circuit ruled that the BIA incorrectly applied the same standard to Cardoza's claims for both asylum and withholding of deportation, because the statutes giving the Attorney General authority to grant these forms of relief to aliens were phrased differently. It held that the standard for asylum was lower than that for withholding of deportation, and that asylum only required a showing of a "well-founded fear" of persecution instead of a "clear probability." The INS asked the Supreme Court to hear the case, and it agreed.
Read more about this topic: Immigration And Naturalization Service V. Cardoza-Fonseca
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