A-G

Citations

• 19 I. & N. Dec. 502

Syllabus

A-G-, 19 I&N Dec. 502 (BIA 1987) ID 3040 (PDF) (1) The respondent's government has the same right as other governments to require military service and to enforce that requirement with reasonable penalities and, therefore, the exerciseof that sovereign right does not constitute persecution. (2) Persecution for failure to serve in the military may be established in those rare cases wherea disproportionately severe punishment would result on account of one of the five groundsenumerated in section 101(a)(42)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A) (1982), or where the alien, as a result of military service required by hisgovernment, would necessarily be required to engage in inhuman conduct condemned by the international community as contrary to the basic rules of human conduct. (3) The case of Matter of Salim, 18 I&N Dec. 311 (BIA 1982), is distinguishable from the present case because the claimant in that case was refusing to serve, not in an army controlled by hisown government, but in one which was \under Soviet command.\