ASYLUM & IMMIGRATION

Asylum Granted for Nicaraguan Mother and Daughter

A Jenner & Block team secured a life-saving result in a pro bono asylum case.

The team represented a Nicaraguan political activist and local opposition party official and her 14-year-old daughter. In retaliation for our adult client’s leadership within her community in support of a national movement protesting the authoritarian regime of President Daniel Ortega, she and her family were subject to a series of escalating threats by police and other government agents.

Those threats culminated with a group of heavily armed parapolice coming to our clients’ home with warrants for the arrest of our adult client and her husband. She escaped detention – and the near certainty of violent abuse, torture, death, or disappearance – only because one member of the parapolice took pity on her.

Despite that miraculous reprieve, our adult client knew that arrest would soon follow and inevitably lead to torment and possibly death. Our clients and their family decided to go into hiding elsewhere in Nicaragua. But when the government continued to hunt them, it became clear that hiding would not work, and they had no choice but to flee to the United States. Our clients went first, followed by other family members. Because the journey to the United States was so dangerous, our adult client had to make the heart-rending decision to leave her infant daughter with family in Nicaragua. 

The team on the case included Partner Tom O’Neill, Associates Jon Enfield and Brian Druchniak, Staff Attorney Edmundo Cuevas, paralegals Charlotte Stretch and Sharlean Perez, and Managing Director of our client GCM Grosvenor Girish Kashyap as co-counsel. The team obtained affidavits from several witnesses after conducting multiple interviews with each, including the client’s former neighbor who is currently in hiding after surviving a brutal machete attack from a pro-government paramilitary fighter. Jon was the primary point of client contact, and Edmundo and Charlotte provided invaluable help as interpreters and translators.

With support from Jon, Brian prepared a well-written and comprehensive legal brief that earned praise from the judge and the government attorney. Sharlean offered crucial last-minute assistance, putting in long nights to get the brief’s copious exhibits organized and annotated. 

The team overcame tremendous obstacles when, two days before the hearing, the court announced that the hearing would be remote rather than in-person. To make matters more complicated, both clients and another key witness fell seriously ill just before the filing deadline.

Despite these obstacles, Brian delivered a compelling direct examination of our adult client – so much so that, during a recess, the government attorney volunteered that the client was clearly credible. The judge agreed, granting both clients asylum, with the government waiving appeal.

Immigration Court Paves the Way for Pro Bono Client to Remain in US

For the past few years, Jenner & Block Partner Zeb Zankel has been representing a young man named Yovani Perez Garcia, whom he connected with through Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), along with co-counsel from Amazon. Mr. Garcia was arrested at a border crossing in Arizona in 2017 after leaving a very difficult home life in Guatemala. He has had an ongoing removal (deportation) proceeding in Immigration Court over the last four years that has been looming heavily on him.

Two years ago, Mr. Zankel secured Special Immigrant Juvenile Status for Mr. Garcia, which is similar to asylum. In September 2021, the Immigration Court granted the firm’s motion for dismissal of his removal case. This is a huge step forward and all but paves the way for Mr. Garcia to remain in the country as a lawful resident without fear of deportation. Mr. Garcia is currently taking classes at Laney Junior College in Oakland and is thrilled about the case dismissal.

The firm team supporting Mr. Zankel with the motion for dismissal included Associate Mei H. Liu, Legal Assistant Aja King, and Paralegal Kendall Allen.

“This was a life-changing matter for our client, and we are proud of the partnership with Jenner & Block to support the positive outcome for Mr. Garcia,” said John Elovson and Roxana Niktab of Amazon.

Partnership Yields Asylum for Pro Bono Client

Since 2017, Jenner & Block had represented a Nigerian man who was seeking asylum after taking on his case as part of our pro bono partnership with GCM Grosvenor and with the National Immigrant Justice Center. 

Our client was born and raised in Nigeria. Since his teens, he has known that he is gay. Nigerian law criminalizes homosexuality and same-sex marriage, and the Nigerian society at large is extremely hostile toward LGBTQ+ persons.

In 2012, just before our client completed college, he was kidnapped by a man whom he met through a gay dating app. He was then beaten and held for ransom. His kidnappers called his mother and extorted a ransom from her, saying that he is gay and threatening to expose his sexuality. Following that harrowing incident, our client was fearful. Ultimately, he was pressured by his family into marrying a woman to dispel any rumors about his sexuality.

In 2015, our client had the opportunity to travel to the United States on a tourist visa to attend a family anniversary celebration. While in the United States, he contacted the NIJC and applied for asylum on the ground that he was persecuted in Nigeria due to his sexual orientation. NIJC asked Jenner & Block and GCM Grosvenor to prosecute his asylum petition. Partners Terri Mascherin and Katie McLaughlin, Associate Christina Lopez, and Tony Neuhoff formerly of GCM Grosvenor had represented him since then.

Katie and Tony led the way, working with the client to locate and interview witnesses who corroborated his account of the kidnapping and to prepare affidavits for those witnesses and others who knew about the persecution that he suffered in Nigeria. Katie worked with an expert on country conditions in Nigeria to develop an expert report. Katie and Christina prepared an extensive submission in support of the petition for asylum, receiving invaluable assistance from Associate Emily Merrifield and summer associate Miguel Suarez-Medina. 

In February 2021, Terri, Tony, and Christina represented him at his asylum interview, with Tony and Christina sharing the closing argument. And on March 9, our client was granted asylum by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Our client is already a productive member of American society. In 2019, he married a US citizen, and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, he has worked three jobs as a certified nursing assistant on the front lines at mental health facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Appeal Successfully Reversed for Kosovan Refugee

Jenner & Block represented a man who had entered the United States from Kosovo as a refugee when he was very young, with no memory of living there; nor does he speak the language. Unfortunately, our client later developed a substance abuse problem and was arrested for some minor crimes, including a drug charge – which is a removable offense – that made him inadmissible for legal permanent residence.

At his hearing before the Immigration Judge (IJ), our client sought a waiver of inadmissibility on humanitarian grounds and petitioned for an adjustment of status to legal permanent resident. He arranged to have family members testify about his importance to them and also prepared to introduce evidence about the poor conditions in Kosovo.

After our client’s own testimony and cross-examination, however, the IJ said that he did not need to hear anything else and was prepared to rule. The IJ then asked the US government whether it had anything else to say, and the government lawyer said “no.” The IJ granted our client a waiver and adjustment of status; the government appealed the decision.

On appeal, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) held that our client’s negative equities outweighed the positive and reversed the waiver. At that point Jenner & Block became involved, on referral from the National Immigrant Justice Center, and the firm appealed to the Seventh Circuit.

In cases such as this, the BIA has unreviewable discretion to reweigh positive and negative equities. No deference is owed to the IJ. Thus, the firm team had to argue that the BIA had committed a legal error, not just that it mis-weighed the evidence.

Jenner & Block Associate Illyana Green provided critical advocacy, ultimately arguing that our client had been whipsawed by the government, which had not filed a prehearing statement, and although it vigorously cross-examined our client about his criminal record, the government had made no argument at the hearing. Illyana argued that the government had preserved no issue for appeal, and our client was prejudiced because of the unusual posture of the case before the IJ: Had the government made any argument at the hearing, our client could have insisted on presenting his evidence to make a full record. The court agreed with the argument and reversed the BIA’s decision.

Although the court attempted to write the decision narrowly, it may have a significant impact on how immigration hearings are conducted. The government rarely files pre-hearing statements due to the volume of immigration cases on their docket. To protect its ability to appeal, the government will be forced by this decision to spend more time getting ready for hearings.

In the meantime, our client was deported to Kosovo, where he has faced homelessness and other challenges. We are hopeful that this positive decision will enable our client to return to the United States. The government will need to bring him back, and on remand, it will be difficult for the government to maintain an appeal, given the Seventh Circuit’s holding.

Others on the firm team for this matter included Partner Matt Price who supervised Illyana, with support from paralegal Mary Frances Patston.