Cordoba v. Barr, No. 17-71655 (9th Cir. 2020)
Annotate this CaseThe Ninth Circuit denied a petition for review of the BIA's denial of petitioner's application for asylum and withholding of removal. The panel held that "wealthy landowners" in Colombia do not constitute a cognizable particular social group for purposes of asylum and withholding of removal because the group lacks particularity and social distinction. Applying the particular social group analysis, the panel held that the agency correctly concluded that petitioner's arguments, and the majority of the evidence he submitted, pertain to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia's perception of wealthy landowners rather than to Colombian society's perception of the purported group.
Court Description: Immigration. Denying a petition for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ denial of asylum and withholding of removal, the panel held that the Board properly concluded that petitioner’s proposed social group of “wealthy landowners” in Colombia is not cognizable because it lacks particularity and social distinction. The panel explained that to have the social distinction necessary to establish a particular social group, there must be evidence showing that society in general perceives, considers, or recognizes persons sharing the particular characteristic to be a group. The panel concluded that petitioner failed to establish that “wealthy landowners” in Colombia are somehow set-apart, or distinct from other persons within the society in some significant way, and that petitioner’s failure to tie his persecutors’ perceptions of “wealthy landowners” to any broader notions of Colombian society was fatal to his claim.
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