Robert A. Ratliff, Esq., immigration attorney and senior litigator with Margaret W. Wong and Associates, won a “PSG” asylum for our client, a young lady from El Salvador, under the “Covenant Against Torture.”
Our client suffered persecution and feared future persecution as a member of four Particular Social Groups: El Salvador women who are victims of domestic violence, victims of sexual abuse, family members of convicted gang members, and single mothers abandoned by the fathers. Each of these four satisfies the test for particular social groups. Women in these PSGs are treated as second-class citizens, lack due process of law, and are expected to suffer the abuses of men in their lives.
Not all women in El Salvador fall within these particular social groups, but once a child is victimized by domestic violence and that same child is sexually preyed upon by an older man, her status changes.
If returned to El Salvador the client faces reprisal from her stepfather’s gang affiliates, being once again groomed for abuse by the father of her child, and life as a single mother.
The court recognized the dangers our client faced and granted her asylum.
