Lawyers Manual - Unified Court System

352 Lori Cohen
91. Michael Aytes /s/ by Janis Sposato, Acting Assoc. Director, Domestic
Operations, to Director, Vermont Service Center, File No. HQPRD 70/6.2,
Applications for U Nonimmigrant Status (Jan. 6, 2006),
http://www.asistaonline.org/legalresources/policymemos/
Unonimms010606.pdf (accessed Aug. 14, 2006).
92. INA § 212(d)(14).
93. INA § 101(a)(42)(A); § 208 (b)(1)(A); INS v Elias-Zacarias, 502 US 478,
481 (1992).
94. INS v Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 US 421, 440 (1987).
95. Matter of Acosta, 19 I&N Dec. 211, 233-34 (BIA 1985), modified on other
grounds, Matter of Mogharrabi, 19 I&N Dec. 439 (BIA 1987); Matter of
C-A-, 23 I&N Dec. 951 (BIA 2006) (social visibility of group an important
consideration).
96. Matter of Kasinga, 21 I&N Dec. 357 (BIA 1996) (female genital
mutilation); Gao v Gonzales, 440 F3d 62, 66-70 (2d Cir. 2006) (forced
marriage in China). For unpublished grants of asylum to women fleeing
honor killing and prostitution, see Center for Gender and Refugee Studies,
http://cgrs.uchastings.edu/law/index.php (accessed August 15, 2006).
Unpublished grants, while persuasive in some instances, do not have
precedential value. At least one court has rejected classifying “young,
attractive women” at risk for prostitution as a social group for asylum
purposes, Rreshpja v Gonzales, 420 F3d 551 (6th Cir 2005), and a
practitioner submitting an application on these grounds should consult a
mentor experienced in gender-based asylum law.
97. Matter of S-A, 22 I&N Dec. 1328 (BIA 2002) (woman with liberal Muslim
beliefs who suffered abuse at the hands of her father); Ali v Ashcroft, 394
F3d 780 (9th Cir 2005) (rape on account of social group membership in a
clan and political opinion), Safaie v INS, 25 F3d 636 (8th Cir 1994)
(opposition to the Iranian government may be both political opinion and
particular social group).
98. Matter of R-A-, 22 I&N Dec. 906 (AG 2001; BIA 1999), remanded by AG,
23 I&N Dec. 694 (AG 2005).
99. Id. at 917.
100. 65 Fed. Reg. 76588 (Dec. 7, 2000).