Gang-related Court Case

The ImmigrationProf Blog recently circulated a post entitled "Valdiviezo-Galdamez v. Attorney General: The Latest Word on PSG Asylum Claims." The referenced case involves a Honduran man who fled to the U.S. and claimed a fear of persecution by gang members. The court notes, in part, that

...the BIA’s addition of the requirements of “social visibility” and “particularity” to its definition of “particular social group” is inconsistent with its prior decisions, and the BIA has not announced a “principled reason” for its adoption of those inconsistent requirements.

Here's a summary of the case from IntLawGrrls. For an overview of these concepts, see "Hot Topics in Asylum: Particular Social Group," a presentation at the Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman: First Annual Conference, Washington, DC, 20 Oct. 2011. See also UNHCR's Amicus brief submitted in the aforementioned case in 2009.

Other resources focusing on gang-based asylum claims include:

Central American and Mexican Gang and Cartel Related Asylum Claims (AILA Seminar Recordings, Aug. 2011) [info]

"Falling Outside: Excavating the History of Central American Asylum Seekers," Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 36, no. 3 (Summer 2011) [abstract]

"Recent Developments in Gang-Related Asylum Claims Based on Membership in a Particular Social Group," Immigration Law Advisor, vol. 4, no. 6 (June 2010) [full-text]

"Youth Resistant to Gang Recruitment as a Particular Social Group in Larios v. Holder," Boston College Third World Law Journal, vol. 31, no. 2 (Spring 2011) [full-text]

- Scroll to p. 457.

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