Cordoba v. Holder, No. 08-74384 (9th Cir. 2013)
Annotate this CaseIn these consolidated appeals, at issue was whether landowners could form the basis for membership in a particular social group for purposes of eligibility for asylum. The court granted petitioners', landowners, petition for review as to their asylum claim based on their membership in a particular social group; remanded for the BIA to reconsider its determinations that the particular social group offered by petitioners were not cognizable under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) in light of en banc decision in Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder; the BIA should address in the first instance whether the harm suffered by petitioners constituted persecution and whether that persecution was "on account of" a protected basis; and because the BIA denied petitioners' removal claims on the same basis as their asylum claims, the court reversed and remanded those determinations. Finally, the court granted Medina-Gonzalez's petition for review as to his Convention Against Torture claim, remanding for reconsideration of that claim in light of the court's recent decision in Tapia-Madrigal v. Holder.
Court Description: Immigration. The panel granted the petitions for review of Edgar Rene Cordoba and Antonio Medina-Gonzalez from the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decisions denying asylum and withholding of removal on the grounds that their status as landowners did not qualify as a particular social group within the meaning of 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A). The panel remanded for the BIA to reconsider in light of this court’s recent en banc decision in Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2013), on the question of whether landownership may form the basis for membership in a particular social group for purposes of eligibility for asylum and withholding. The panel found that there were clear inconsistencies between Henriquez-Rivas and the BIA's decisions, which were decided before the en banc opinion was published. The panel also remanded for reconsideration of Medina-Gonzalez’s CAT claim in light of Tapia-Madrigal v. Holder, 716 F.3d 499 (9th Cir. 2013), which found that a public official must be aware of the torturous activity but need not have actual knowledge of the specific incident of torture. Judge Zouhary concurred in the judgment of the asylum claims, but wrote separately to clarify that remand is appropriate because the BIA decisions in these cases came down before the en banc opinion in Henriquez-Rivas. Judge Zouhary would remand to the BIA for the limited purpose of determining whether there was evidence that members of the proposed group would be perceived as a group by society. Judge Zouhary dissented from the section addressing Medina-Gonzalez’s CAT claim. He would find that the BIA’s denial of the claim was supported by substantial evidence and would affirm.
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