UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.docVIP

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR IMMIGRATION REVIEW OFFICE OF THE IMMIGRATION JUDGE ) IN THE MATTER OF: ) No. A __________ ) J.J.R. ) HONORABLE CARLOS CUEVAS ) Respondent ) Presiding Judge ) MEMORANDUM OF LAW AND FACTS IN SUPPORT OF APPLICATION FOR ASYLUM AND/OR WITHHOLDING OF DEPORTATION Respondent, J.J.R., by and through his attorney Vanessa Melendez Lucas and Law Students Susanne Jennings and Chris Norborg of the Northwestern University Legal Clinic, has applied for political asylum pursuant to § 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the “Act”), 8 U.S.C. § 1158. Under 8 C.F.R. 208.3(b), Mr. R’s asylum request is also a request for withholding of deportation pursuant to § 243(h) of the Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1253 (h). INTRODUCTION J.J.R. is a Salvadoran orphan who fled his country after years of living in fear of the Sombra Negra, an extra-judicial death squad that kills actual and perceived youth criminals in a brutal attempt to clean the streets of El Salvador. This death squad represented a genuine threat to Respondent, because he was an open and highly-visible member of the Mara Salvatrucha, a notorious street gang. J.J.R. should be granted asylum because his Application for Asylum, his Supplemental Statement, and other supporting materials demonstrate that as a young child he endured four years of living in terror of the Sombra Negra on account of his membership in the social group of Salvadoran street gang members. This past persecution establishes his well-founded fear of death or extreme suffering upon return to El Salvador, a country where extra-judicial death squad activity remains out of control. The combination of Respondents former life as a high profile gang member and his utter dearth of non-gang support systems would leave him with nowhere to live but the streets, exposing him to grave risk of persecution at the hands of the death squads. Furthermore