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Category: Asylum

  • CAMEROON Designated for TPS

    A man in suit and tie holding a microphone.

    The USCIS has issued the following statement through their public engagement services:

    Secretary Mayorkas Designates Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status for 18 Months

    The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced today the designation of Cameroon for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months. Only individuals who are already residing in the United States as of April 14, 2022, will be eligible for TPS. “The United States recognizes the ongoing armed conflict in Cameroon, and we will provide temporary protection to those in need,” said Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas. “Cameroonian nationals currently residing in the U.S. who cannot safely return due to the extreme violence perpetrated by government forces and armed separatists, and a rise in attacks led by Boko Haram, will be able to remain and work in the United States until conditions in their home country improve.”

     

    A country may be designated for TPS when conditions in the country fall into one or more of the three statutory bases for designation: ongoing armed conflict, environmental disaster, or extraordinary and temporary conditions. This designation is based on both ongoing armed conflict and extraordinary and temporary conditions in Cameroon that prevent Cameroonian nationals, and those of no nationality who last habitually resided in Cameroon, from returning to Cameroon safely. The conditions result from the extreme violence between government forces and armed separatists and a significant rise in attacks from Boko Haram, the combination of which has triggered a humanitarian crisis. Extreme violence and the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure have led to economic instability, food insecurity, and several hundred thousand displaced Cameroonians without access to schools, hospitals, and other critical services.

    This marks the first time the Secretary of DHS will permit qualifying nationals of Cameroon to remain temporarily in the United States pursuant to a TPS designation of that country. Individuals eligible for TPS under this designation must have continuously resided in the United States since April 14, 2022. Individuals who attempt to travel to the United States after April 14, 2022, will not be eligible for TPS. Cameroon’s 18-month designation will go into effect on the publication date of the forthcoming Federal Register notice.

    The Federal Register notice will provide instructions for applying for TPS and an Employment Authorization Document (EAD). TPS applicants must meet all eligibility requirements and undergo security and background checks. For more information on USCIS anditsprograms, please visit uscis.govor follow us on Twitter,Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.

  • 4th Circuit Further Defines Family Asylum Group

    A comprehensive decision, Sandra Hernandez-Cartagena v. William Barr (https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/191823.P.pdf) by the 4th Circuit overturning and remanding a denial of asylum by an immigration judge, affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), affirms the legitimacy of a family unit as an appropriate social group for asylum protection. The Fourth Circuit found that the BIA’s decision denying the asylum claim was ” manifestly contrary to the law and an abuse of discretion.”

    The immigration judge and the BIA decided the case based on an analysis that a young woman was targeted by a gang individually, raped and beaten because she could not pay extortion, even though her brother had also been injured and the stated purpose of the extortion was to get the parents to pay money to the gang. This decision provides a good analysis for the pleading and testimonial requirements that support such an asylum claim, a situation which often results in denials when the victim of such extortion does not understand the legal requirements for such a claim.

  • 4th Circuit Finds Domestic Violence can be Legitimate Asylum Claim

    The Fourth Circuit issued a published decision (which means it has precedential value which must be followed by judges within the 4th Circuit) which finds a claim of asylum based on the Salvadoran government’s inability to protect a woman from domestic violence is a proper basis for a grant of asylum.

    The Case, (Ruth Jeanette Orellana v. William Barr (http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/181513.P.pdf) , was in part based on a stipulation by the government that “Salvadoran women in domestic partnerships who are viewed as property” can form a protected social group, and the decision lends substantial support to this position, even though the government apparently is trying to walk back this interpretation, claiming that the stipulation will be withdrawn upon remand.

    This is an important development because individual cases of domestic violence are not normally sufficient to create the basis for an asylum claim. In this case, however, the documented failure of the El Salvadoran government, police, and court system was so well described that the Court of Appeals rejected the finding by the Immigration Court judge that the victim could be protected in El Salvador. 

  • Virginia Law Criminalizing Gang Activity Not Categorically a CIMT

     On July 19, 2019 the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued its decision finding that the Virginia offense of participating in criminal street gang activity is not categorically a crime involving moral turpitude.

    The Virginia statute,  Va. Code § 18.2-46.2(A), which prohibits participation in a criminal street gang, is as follows:

    Any person who actively participates in or is a member of a criminal street gang and who knowingly and willfully participates in any predicate criminal act committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang shall be guilty of a Class 5 felony. 

    The court reasoned that the statute criminalizes acivity which is not the requisite base, vile, and morally depraved conduct which must be found for it to be a crime of moral turpitude, using, as an example, a situation where a person wearing a gang scarf who trespassed onto property could be found guilty under the statute without any further criminal acts being involved.

    This means that a simple conviction under this statute cannot be used as a basis for deportation of a person so convicted.

  • Family Can Be Social Group

    Family Based Asylum Claim Explained – 4th Circuit

    The 4th Circuit held: “The BIA and the IJ improperly focused on whether Gomez’s father and brother were threatened due to a protected reason in order to impute such protection to the whole family. This was in error. The correct analysis focuses on Gomez herself as the applicant, and asks whether Gomez was targeted because of her membership in the social group consisting of her immediate family. “

    http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Unpublished/152576.U.pdf

     UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

    GOMEZ v. SESSIONS Case 15-2576 — Although unpublished, this provides guidance for those seeking asylum based on family persecution.