The Fourth Circuit has affirmed the validity of an asylum claim brought by a woman who was threatened by the gangs in order to get her parents to pay extortion money. The woman was raped and her younger brother was assaulted with a knife. “Petitioner clearly demonstrated that her family was being targeted for extortive threats and she was targeted because her parents were failing to comply with those threats.”
“Contrary to the BIA’s conclusion in this case, the record does not support the conclusion that Petitioner’s own conflict with the gang precipitated any of the events in question. Indeed, substantial evidence in the record compels the conclusion that at least one central reason Petitioner was targeted was her membership in the Hernandez-Cartagena family. The unrebutted evidence in the record demonstrates that the threats and violence against Petitioner, her child, and her siblings were designed to get her parents to pay up. Pursuant to Hernandez-Avalos, it is therefore unreasonable to conclude that the fact that Petitioner is her parents’ child -- a member of their family, concern for whom might motivate additional payments to the gang -- is not at least one central reason for her persecution.”
The full text of Hernandez-Cartagena v. Barr can be found here: