Gang Related Asylum Cases

By Published On: June 1, 2015Categories: Blog, Asylum, Immigration

Gang-Related Asylum Cases In The United States

This page serves as a resource for attorneys and advocates representing asylum applicants fleeing persecution from violent criminal gangs.

An Immigration Protection Case Such As Asylum For Gang Persecution Or Anything Related To It, Must Be Handled With Reliable Legal Advice

Refugees Fleeing Gang Violence

An increasing number of persons from Central America are applying for asylum in the United States based on the persecution they suffered after being targeted by gangs in their home countries. These asylum applicants come from countries whose governments are unwilling or unable to control the activities of the gangs operating within, and many times across, their borders. In countries with weak governments, gangs are able to rape, rob, extort, beat, torture, and murder ordinary citizens with impunity. Unfortunately, favorable court decisions for asylum applicants fleeing gangs are rare.

Proving Gang-Related Asylum Claims

  • Like all asylum applicants, asylum applicants fleeing gangs must show:
  • The harm they suffered, or the harm they fear, is bad enough to qualify as “persecution.”
  • The harm they suffered, or the harm they fear, is linked to one of the five protected grounds for asylum. To win asylum, it is not enough to show that an asylum applicant was harmed by a gang. The applicant must show a “nexus” between the harm suffered and one of the five grounds for asylum.
  • Showing a “nexus” means that the asylum applicant must show that the gang harmed the applicant because of the applicant’s race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
  • Their home countries are unable or unwilling to protect them.

Find more here

About the Author: Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch

I am the managing partner of Lincoln-Goldfinch Law. Upon graduating from the University of Texas for college and law school, I received an Equal Justice Works Fellowship in 2008, completed at American Gateways. My project served the detained families seeking asylum. After my fellowship, I entered private immigration practice. My firm offers family-based immigration, such as greencards and naturalization, deportation defense, and humanitarian cases such as asylum, U Visa, and VAWA. Everyone at Lincoln-Goldfinch Law is bilingual, has a connection to our cause, and has demonstrated a history of activism for immigrants. To us, our work is not just a job. After the pandemic we began offering bankruptcy services in addition to immigration I realized how much lack of information there is in financial literacy resources in Spanish.

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