South Carolina Lawyers Weekly

Where a citizen of El Salvador argued that former members of MS-13 were socially distinct from former members of the gang who leave for moral reasons, the administrative record did not support this argument. Background German Alexander Nolasco, a native ...

Where the immigration judge focused on why a Honduran gang targeted the petitioner’s family, rather than petitioner herself, that was wrong. Because the record showed that the gang leveraged her familial relationship to her husband, as well as their familial ...

Where the resident of El Salvador was only 15 when members of the MS-13 gang beat him and made death threats, the immigration court erred by not taking his age into account when analyzing his past persecution and fear of ...

In a case of first impression, the court joined other circuits in holding that immigration judges have a duty to develop the record in immigration court proceedings, especially in pro se cases. Here, a Salvadoran man’s petition for review of ...

Where a man challenged an immigration judge’s denial of a waiver of inadmissibility so he could apply for a U visa, federal regulations allow immigration judges, or IJs, to “take any action consistent with their authorities … that is appropriate ...

Where a native of Ghana was pardoned for aggravated felony, drug and firearm offenses, the pardon waiver of removability is limited to the grounds listed in the statute, which does not extend to controlled substance and firearm convictions. The order ...

Where the Board of Immigration Appeals impermissibly conflated the particularity requirement with the social distinction requirement in the case of an El Salvadoran man seeking to avoid deportation on account of membership in the “former Salvadoran MS-13 members,” its determination ...

Where an immigration judge discounted an affidavit from a woman seeking asylum based on death threats against her and her husband in Honduras because her husband did not testify in person, that was error as an applicant needs only to ...

Where the petitioner became the target of death threats by a Guatemalan gang after she and her family witnessed a mass killing by gang members and refused to yield to the gang’s extortion and other demands, she established a well-founded ...

Where the consular officer who denied a visa application cited the statutory provisions for the denial and explained her reasoning—that she found the applicant had proffered a falsified passport and lied about her age—the doctrine of consular non-reviewability barred judicial ...