The Fourth Circuit has affirmed the denial of a family-based particular social group claim for a woman who was persecuted by her brother-in-law because she tried to protect her sister from domestic violence. The court found that “[t]he record would not compel a reasonable adjudicator to conclude that Veronica’s membership in Guisela’s family was anything more than incidental, tangential, superficial and subordinate to another reason for Rogelio to harm her. In contrast, the record contains substantial evidence that central reasons for Veronica’s persecution included her intervening in Guisela’s and Rogelio’s marriage, aiding her sister in escaping Rogelio and assisting in Rogelio’s capture and imprisonment.” This narrow nexus analysis seems out of step with other Fourth Circuit cases on family-based social groups, which have recognized that a mother protects her son from gang recruitment because of their family ties. It is unclear why a sister would not be similarly motivated by family ties to protect her sibling from domestic abuse.
The court also noted that Rogelio similarly persecuted non-family members who assisted Guisela, and cited this as evidence that it was the assistance to Guisela, not the family ties, that motivated the persecution. The court also relied on this fact to distinguish this case from its other precedents on persecution motivated by family ties.
The full text of Toledo-Vasquez v. Garland: