Important Asylum Ruling

The Board of Immigration Appeals issued an important ruling today (June 15) on the meaning of “particular social group” for purposes of asylum.  The case (Matter of C-A-0 is likely to be important.  Here are some highlights from the headnotes:

(1) The members of a particular social group must share a common, immutable characteristic, which may be an innate one, such as sex, color, or kinship ties, or a shared past experience, such as former military leadership or land ownership, but it must be one that members of the group either cannot change, or should not be required to change, because it is fundamental to their individual identities or consciences. Matter of Acosta, 19 I&N Dec. 211(BIA 1985), followed.

(2) The social visibility of the members of a claimed social group is an important consideration in identifying the existence of a particular social group for the purpose of determining whether a person qualifies as a refugee.

(3) The group of former noncriminal drug informants working against the Cali drug carteldoes not have the requisite social visibility to constitute a particular social group.

Click here to see the ruling.

KJ