Woman accused of being a witch in Brazil can seek asylum in U.S., court rules
A woman who fled Brazil to California with her husband and child after attacks on her minority religion, including an incident in which she said a man held a gun to her head, has a right to seek asylum in the United States, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
U.S. immigration courts had ruled that the threats Silvana De Souza Silva encountered in Brazil amounted to no more than 'discrimination' against her Afro-Brazilian faith, Candomblé, and not to persecution, the legal requirement for political asylum and protection from deportation. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said she had presented evidence that she and her family could face death if they are sent back to Brazil.
There is 'ample' evidence 'that the harms and abuses De Souza Silva faced, including harassment, recurring and escalating vandalism, and an armed death threat during a home invasion, caused her to practice Candomblé underground and eventually flee,' the court said in a 3-0 ruling. The evidence also shows that attacks against adherents to the minority faith were common in Brazil, the court said.
The court ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider the case, including evidence of attacks on Candomblé practitioners that the immigration judges had disregarded. The ruling was written by Judge Richard Paez, appointed by President Bill Clinton, and joined by Judges Kim Wardlaw, another Clinton appointee, and Carlos Bea, appointed by President George W. Bush.
The court's action 'gives hope to all immigrants who have to face hardships, (particularly) in regards to their religion,' said the woman's lawyer, Jose Vergara. The woman declined comment to the Chronicle but said through De Souza Silva that she was happy with the ruling, 'but I still understand that there is a long way to go' before winning asylum.
De Souza Silva, 39, lives in Tracy (San Joaquin County) with her husband and their 9-year-old child. Two older children remain in Brazil with De Souza Silva's mother.
De Souza Silva began practicing Candomblé as a young teenager, in secrecy from her parents, who were devout Catholics, the court said. According to NPR, the religion originated in West Africa and was brought to Brazil by slaves. Followers of the religion believe in one all-powerful god who is served by lesser deities. The concept of good or evil does not exist, only individual destiny, NPR said.
De Souza Silva moved away from home after meeting her future husband and a woman named Simone, both of whom also practiced Candomblé.
Then in 2010 several people broke into Simone's home, murdered her father and called everyone there 'witches' and 'sorcerers' who were not welcome in the neighborhood, the court said. De Souza Silva, who lived nearby, soon started seeing graffiti on the walls of her home, saying things like 'this is not the place for you.' She and her husband had difficulty finding work, and their children were harassed at school, the court said.
In September 2021, the court said, her husband got a call offering him a job that turned out to be a ruse to get him out of the home. A masked man then broke in, held a gun to her head, and told her, 'Witch, leave this town with your black magic family. This is just a warning. … Next time you won't live to see another day.'
After reaching California with her husband and child, De Souza Silva applied for asylum but was rejected by an immigration judge. According to the appeals court, the judge said she had not suffered any lasting physical harm from the death threat, and her claim that her religion had cost her employment opportunities was just 'speculation.' The judge also said she and her family hadn't shown that they would be unable to relocate safely elsewhere in Brazil. The ruling was endorsed by the Board of Immigration Appeals.
But the federal appeals court, which hears challenges to rulings by immigration judges, said the judges in De Souza Silva's case had ignored evidence of religious persecution in South America's largest nation.
'As evangelicalism grows in Brazil, its most extreme adherents — often affiliated with gangs — are increasingly targeting Brazil's non-Christian religious minorities,' Paez said in Wednesday's ruling.
He said reports of religious-based violence against Afro-Brazilian practitioners increased nearly tenfold between 2016 and 2019. In 2019, Paez said, more than 200 Candomblé temples shut down after receiving threats, twice as many as in 2018.
And because the evidence could show that De Souza and her family would face a likelihood of persecution if deported, Paez said, it would be up to the U.S. government to prove that they would be safe elsewhere in Brazil.
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