Third Circuit Cases

THIRD CIRCUIT

Amanfi v. Ashcroft, 328 F.3d 719, 729–30 (3d Cir. 2003): Membership in PSG can be just imputed and not actual.

Chen v. Gonzales, 434 F.3d 212, 216 (3d Cir. 2005): Standard for withholding of removal is “clear probability” of persecution.

Kibinda v. Att’y Gen., 477 F.3d 113, 119 (3d Cir. 2007): Gov’t unable or unwilling to control persecutors.

Kang v. Att’y Gen., 611 F.3d 157, 164 (3d Cir. 2010): CAT relief and when to uphold BIA’s reversal of IJ’s decision

Espinoza-Cortex v. Att’y Gen., 607 F.3d 101, 107 (3d Cir. 2010): BIA must not ignore or misconstrue evidence. Persecutor may attribute political opinion to someone and act on that belief.

Garcia v. Att’y General, 665 F.3d 496, 502 (3d Cir. 2011), as amended (Jan. 13, 2012): Guatemalan witness who testified in court against a gang was member of PSG because persecuted for this action by gang members later.

Galarza v. Szalczyk [745 F.3d 634 (3rd Cir. 2013)]: U.S. citizen appealing being held without probable cause by county LEA because they thought they were under a mandatory detainer from ICE. (Summary)

Myrie v. Att’y Gen., 855 F.3d 509 (3d Cir. 2017): two-part test for identifying torture and gov’t acquiescence:

    • What is likely to happen if petitioner is removed?
      • Does what is likely to happen constitute torture?
    • How are public officials likely to respond to the harm the petitioner describes?
      • Will the response qualify as acquiescence?

Ricketts v. Attorney General (2018): Jurisdiction for denied nationality claim. (Summary)

Wang v. Attorney General (2018): False report re. transaction not nec. aggravated felony. (Summary)

Guerrero-Sanchez v. Warden York County Prison (2018): … (Summary here.)

City of Philadelphia v. Attorney General (2019): Sanctuary cities case: AG does not have the authority to impose special conditions (related to immigration detention) on federal grant for law enforcement. (Summary here)

Quinteros v. Att’y Gen., 945 F.3d 772, 786 (3d Cir. 2019): Examine ALL of the evidence when making CAT decisions. (Word Doc Summary) (PDF Summary)

Tilija v. Att’y Gen., 930 F.3d 165, 169-70, 172 (3d Cir. 2019): prima facie political asylum claim for being attacked and threatened for political support.

Radiowala v. Att’y Gen., 930 F.3d 577, 583 (3d Cir. 2019): Particularity & determining boundaries of the PSG.

Guadalupe v. A.G., No. 19-2239 (3d Cir. Feb. 26 2020): An NTA that is defective under Pereira CANNOT be cured by a subsequent hearing notice, and therefore does not trigger the stop-time rule.  (Word Doc Summary) (PDF Summary)

Herrera-Reyes v. A.G., No. 19-2255 (3d Cir. Feb. 28 2020): Verbal threats constitute past persecution if sufficiently concrete and menacing; record must be considered in the aggregate. Harm to close associates and family members should be considered as supporting a claim to past persecution. (Word Doc Summary) (PDF Summary)

Sumalia v. Attorney General, No. 18-1342 (3d Cir. March 31, 2020): Threats are sufficient to establish persecution; BIA & IJ ignored case law and record re. reasonable fear; medical records and serious physical injury are not necessary to establish persecution; intimate details of sexual relationships are not necessary to establish sexual orientation. (Word Doc Summary) (PDF Summary)

Guzman Orellanas v. Attorney General, No. 19-1793 (3d Cir. April 17, 2020): “Persons who publicly provide assistance against major Salvadoran gangs do constitute a particular social group.” (at 3) (Word Doc Summary) (PDF Summary)