## Facts

- Adelaide Abankwah, a native and citizen of Ghana, belonged to the Nkumssa tribe in central Ghana.
- Her mother held the position of Queen Mother, a high-ranking ceremonial and practical leadership role for Nkumssa women.
- After her mother’s death, Abankwah testified she was expected to be designated the next Queen Mother.
- Nkumssa custom required the designated Queen Mother to remain a virgin until installation (“enstoolment”); a ceremony would publicly reveal non-virginity.
- Abankwah testified she had engaged in premarital sex and feared that, if revealed at enstoolment, she would be punished by female genital mutilation (FGM).
- She testified that tribal authorities had sentenced her, in absentia, to undergo FGM and that she received specific threats that the procedure would be carried out if she returned.
- Record evidence described FGM as a severe practice in Ghana with serious lifelong physical and psychological consequences.
- After entering the United States without authorization, Abankwah was placed in deportation proceedings and applied for asylum and withholding of deportation.
- The Immigration Judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals denied relief, finding her fear subjectively genuine but not objectively reasonable.

## Issues

1. Whether substantial evidence supported the BIA’s conclusion that Abankwah did not have an objectively reasonable fear of being subjected to FGM if returned to Ghana.
2. Whether the threatened FGM constituted persecution “on account of” a protected ground for asylum and withholding, including membership in a particular social group.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit granted the petition for review, reversed the BIA’s denial of asylum and withholding, and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that FGM constitutes persecution under the asylum statute.
- The court concluded the BIA’s finding that Abankwah’s fear was not objectively reasonable was not supported by substantial evidence given her credible testimony, the specific threats, and supporting country-conditions evidence.

## Legal Principles

- Asylum requires proof of past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of a protected ground, including membership in a particular social group.
- A well-founded fear has both subjective and objective components; the objective component asks whether a reasonable person in the applicant’s circumstances would fear persecution.
- FGM is a form of persecution because it is extremely painful, permanently disfiguring, and carries serious medical and psychological risks.
- The BIA’s factual findings are reviewed for substantial evidence; reversal is warranted when the record cannot reasonably support the agency’s conclusion.
- Where credible, specific testimony of targeted threats is supported by contextual evidence, an agency may not dismiss the claim as speculative without substantial evidence.
- Withholding of deportation requires a higher likelihood of persecution than asylum; errors that negate the asylum analysis may also taint the withholding analysis.

## Conclusion

The Second Circuit held that credible, specific threats of FGM supported by record evidence can establish an objectively reasonable fear of persecution, reversed the denial of asylum and withholding, and remanded for further proceedings.


Abankwah v. INS, 185 F.3d 18 (2d Cir. 1999)