Lack of mixed motive analysis prompts remand of asylum denial.

Byline: Barry Bridges

The denial of a Honduran national's claims for asylum and withholding of removal has been remanded for further proceedings after a panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that the decisions of an immigration judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals were marred by legal errors.

Judge Sandra L. Lynch wrote for the majority of the three-judge panel, concluding that the IJ and BIA did not undertake a "mixed motive" analysis in deciding whether the protected ground of family membership was "one central reason" for petitioner Darlin Enamorado-Rodriguez's persecution in his home country.

The judge also pointed to a second error of law requiring remand: the fact that there were insufficient findings made below to demonstrate the purported need for corroborating evidence of Enamorado-Rodriguez's testimony.

"Without such findings, 'any holding that an otherwise credible claim is doomed because the petitioner failed to provide corroborating evidence directly conflicts with the applicable regulations,'" Lynch wrote.

Judge Kermit V. Lipez concurred in the result, but concluded that the appropriate basis for a remand actually lay in the IJ's ruling that there was "insufficient evidence to establish a nexus to [the] protected ground" of family membership.

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CASE: Enamorado-Rodriguez v. Barr, Lawyers Weekly 01-236-19 (30 pages)

COURT: 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

ISSUE: Was a petitioner's application for asylum and withholding of removal correctly denied?

DECISION: No. The immigration judge and the BIA made legal errors in not analyzing the "mixed motive" standard and in requiring corroborating evidence of the petitioner's testimony.[/box]

The petitioner is being represented by a team of attorneys from Ropes & Gray, including David C. Soutter of Boston, who declined to elaborate on the decision in light of the ongoing proceedings. The U.S. Department of Justice did not respond to a request for comments.

Asylum, withholding denied

Petitioner Darlin Enamorado-Rodriguez was born in January 2000 in El Capuline, an isolated village in the mountains of Honduras. His father, Eleazar Enamorado-Alberto, was abusive and addicted to drugs. In his early years, Enamorado-Rodriguez lived on and off with other family members in light of his parents' volatile relationship.

When Enamorado-Rodriguez was about six and living with his paternal grandparents, his father tried to...