Vasquez-Rivera v. Garland "Here, the BIA attributed analysis to the IJ that the IJ never undertook. Finding that none of Vasquez-Rivera’s proposed social groups were cognizable, the IJ concluded that her asylum claims failed. With respect to Vasquez...
Matter of M-R-M-S-, 28 I&N Dec. 757 (BIA 2023) - If a persecutor is targeting members of a certain family as a means of achieving some other ultimate goal unrelated to the protected ground, family membership is incidental or subordinate to that other ultimate...
American Immigration Council and AILA | August 23, 2018 - "This complaint contains 13 pseudonymized case examples and original testimony from parents who were separated from their children that show a pervasive, illegal practice by DHS officials of coercing...
Ingrid Eagly, Esq., Steven Shafer, Esq. and Jana Whalley, Esq., American Immigration Council, August 16, 2018 - "The United States currently detains more protection-seeking families than any nation in the world. Since 2001, parents and their children have...
USCIS, Feb. 14, 2022 "As of the date of this memorandum, RAIO is rescinding marriage guidance previously issued by RAIO divisions: "Guidance for the treatment of refugee cases that include an informal marriage to an RE-2 derivative spouse {2018}1"...
Peña Oseguera v. Barr "The BIA admitted that the Immigration Judge incorrectly conflated the respondent’s claim with that of his mother (“We briefly note that the respondent is not a derivative application on his mother’s separate asylum application, and...
Matter of L-E-A-, 27 I&N Dec. 581 (A.G. 2019) (1) In Matter of L-E-A-, 27 I&N Dec. 40 (BIA 2017), the Board of Immigration Appeals improperly recognized the respondent’s father’s immediate family as a “particular social group” for purposes of qualifying...
Matter of L-E-A-, 27 I&N Dec. 40 (BIA 2017) - (1) Whether a particular social group based on family membership is cognizable depends on the nature and degree of the relationships involved and how those relationships are regarded by the society in question....
CLINIC (Bradley Jenkins) writes: "CLINIC recently received word from counsel of record in Matter of L-A- (also known as the "family as particular social group" amicus invitation from the Board ) that DHS has filed their supplemental brief . In an...
Flores-Rios v. Lynch, Dec. 1, 2015 - "Because few groups are more “readily identifiable than the family,” the BIA’s determination that the petitioner had not shown membership in a particular social group “was manifestly contrary to law.” ... In the face of...
"The sister of my asylum-seeker client recently got an unpleasant surprise from the U.S. Embassy in her country. The sister is a prominent journalist who had come to the Embassy several times (at the Embassy’s request) to brief U.S. diplomats on the situation...
"Respondent has established that Guatemalan women who are unable to leave a common law relationship is a particular social group. ... Considering these actions in context with the fact that most such violence in Guatemala is motivated by gender, the Court...