In an unpublished decision, the Fourth Circuit again re-affirmed its family-based particular social group analysis, finding that a woman was eligible for asylum based on her family relationships, when she was persecuted because of her familial relationship to her father and brother. "The correct analysis focuses on Gomez herself as the applicant, and asks whether Gomez was targeted because of her membership in the social group consisting of her immediate family. In other words, whether she would have been selected as the recipient of those threats absent that familial connection. It is of no moment that the IJ made a finding of fact that the gang’s motivation with respect to her father and brother was actually because of extortion and not religious activity, as we explained in both Cordova and Hernandez-Avalos."
The full decision in Gomez v. Sessions can be found here:
http://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/Unpublished/152576A.U.pdf