Ordonez-Quino v. Holder
2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 14004
| 1st Cir. | 2014Background
- Manuel Ordonez-Quino, an indigenous Mayan Quiché nearly deaf from a 1980 bombing during the Guatemalan Civil War, entered the U.S. without inspection in 2005 and applied for asylum, withholding, and CAT relief in 2010.
- He testified credibly that his village was attacked repeatedly by Guatemalan military forces; one bombing when he was 5–6 caused severe illness and near-total hearing loss, and his family was displaced and impoverished.
- He also suffered a 2005 gang beating in Guatemala City that precipitated his departure, but the agency found no nexus between that attack and a protected ground.
- The IJ found him credible, excused his late filing, but denied relief for lack of nexus and for failure to show past persecution or well-founded fear; the BIA affirmed in a brief opinion.
- The record included the Guatemalan Historical Clarification Report finding systemic, often genocidal, targeting of Mayan communities, medical evidence of his disability, and country-condition reports showing ongoing discrimination against Mayans.
- The First Circuit vacated and remanded, holding the agency's nexus and persecution findings lacked substantial evidence and that the BIA gave inadequate analysis on future fear and humanitarian asylum issues.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nexus to protected ground for civil-war bombing | Ordonez-Quino: military attacks targeted Mayan communities; Historical Clarification Report and record link attacks to ethnicity | Gov: attacks were civil-war actions aimed at guerrillas, not at Mayan ethnicity per se | Court: Agency ignored/ misread documentary evidence; record compels finding that Mayan identity was at least one central reason; vacated nexus finding |
| Whether harms constitute past persecution | Ordonez-Quino: cumulative childhood bombings, displacement, permanent hearing loss and developmental harms amount to persecution | Gov: incidents were isolated or ordinary discrimination, not severe/regular enough to be persecution | Court: BIA erred by treating incidents as isolated and failing to assess harms cumulatively and from child’s perspective; vacated |
| Well-founded fear of future persecution | Ordonez-Quino: ongoing systemic racism and human-rights abuses against Mayans support a well-founded fear | Gov: country conditions changed; family members remain safely in Guatemala; gang violence is criminal, not persecutory | Held: BIA’s conclusory reliance on an inapposite precedent and failure to assess record-specific country conditions insufficient; if past persecution found, agency must reassess presumption of future fear on the full record |
| Humanitarian asylum (waiver/jurisdiction/merits) | Ordonez-Quino: requested humanitarian asylum before BIA; relief can be granted based on severity of past persecution and lasting disability | Gov: BIA correctly denied as waived or discretionary; alternatively nonreviewable | Court: Federal court has jurisdiction; petitioner did not waive humanitarian claim by failing to label it separately before IJ; BIA’s conclusory denial lacks sufficient reasoning on remand to be upheld |
Key Cases Cited
- Ayala v. Holder, 683 F.3d 15 (1st Cir. 2012) (credibility and asylum standards)
- Ivanov v. Holder, 736 F.3d 5 (1st Cir. 2013) (substantial-evidence standard for BIA/IJ factual findings)
- Singh v. Mukasey, 543 F.3d 1 (1st Cir. 2008) (REAL ID Act "one central reason" nexus standard)
- Jorge-Tzoc v. Gonzales, 435 F.3d 146 (2d Cir. 2006) (considering child’s perspective and cumulative harms)
- Palma-Mazariegos v. Gonzales, 428 F.3d 30 (1st Cir. 2005) (country-conditions/changed-circumstances analysis)