## Facts

- Maydai Hernandez-Avalos, a native and citizen of El Salvador, lived with her young son in an area controlled by the Mara 18 gang.
- After a relative was murdered by gang members for refusing to join, armed gang members came to Hernandez’s home and threatened to kill her if she identified those responsible to authorities.
- Gang members later came to her home and stated her son, about twelve years old, was ready to join the gang.
- When Hernandez refused to allow her son to join, gang members put a gun to her head and threatened to kill her if she continued opposing his recruitment.
- On a subsequent visit, gang members again put a gun to her head, told her her son was ready to join, and gave her one day to turn him over or be killed.
- In 2008, Hernandez and her son entered the United States without inspection; removal proceedings were initiated.
- Hernandez conceded removability and sought asylum and withholding of removal; an Immigration Judge found her generally credible but denied relief, finding no protected-ground nexus and finding insufficient proof that El Salvador was unable or unwilling to protect her.
- The Board of Immigration Appeals affirmed; Hernandez petitioned for review.

## Issues

1. Whether threats by a gang against a mother to compel her to permit her son’s recruitment are persecution “on account of” a protected ground, specifically membership in the nuclear family.
2. Whether the record compels the conclusion that the Salvadoran government was unable or unwilling to control the gang in Hernandez’s locality.

## Decision

- The Fourth Circuit granted the petition for review, vacated the Board’s order, and remanded.
- The court held the record compelled a finding that Hernandez’s maternal relationship to her son was at least one central reason for the threats.
- The court held the Board erred in concluding the Salvadoran government was willing and able to protect Hernandez by mischaracterizing or disregarding her credible testimony and country-conditions evidence regarding gang influence and corruption.
- The court concluded the evidence compelled that Hernandez established eligibility for asylum, leaving further proceedings on remand consistent with the opinion.

## Legal Principles

- Membership in a nuclear family can constitute a cognizable “particular social group” for asylum purposes.
- The “on account of” requirement is satisfied when a protected ground is at least “one central reason” for the persecution, even if the persecutor also has nonprotected objectives (such as recruitment).
- When a persecutor targets a parent because the parent’s family role gives authority over a child, coercive threats against the parent may establish the required nexus to family membership.
- Asylum based on private-actor persecution requires showing the home government is unable or unwilling to control the persecutors.
- Appellate review may compel reversal where the agency distorts, disregards, or selectively reads credible testimony and corroborating country evidence bearing on nexus or state protection.

## Conclusion

The Fourth Circuit held that death threats against a mother designed to force her to surrender her son to a gang were centrally motivated by her family relationship and that the agency’s state-protection analysis was unsupported by the credited record, requiring vacatur and remand.


Hernandez-Avalos v. Lynch, 784 F.3d 944 (4th Cir. 2015)