Prosecution not persecution

Cruz-Samayoa v. Holder, 607 F.3d 1145 (6th Cir. 2010), http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/10a0178p-06.pdf.

The court held that a legitimate criminal prosecution does not amount to persecution and affirmed the denial of asylum and withholding of removal.  The alien served as a spokesperson for Guatemalan peasants who were occupying disputed farmlands.  When the police entered the lands, violence erupted as it sought to remove the occupiers.  The alien fled and an arrest warrant was issued for him.

There was a sufficient legal basis for the arrest warrant in that there seemed to be little dispute that violence occurred when the police entered the occupied lands.

The court followed its earlier decision in Haider by assuming the alien's credibility when the IJ's credibility determination was ambiguous.