Lara v. Lynch

Petitioner, a native and citizen of Bolivia, seeks review of the BIA's dismissal of her appeal of the IJ's denial of her asylum application based on her ineligibility under the firm-resettlement bar. The court held that it must review the BIA’s factual determinations about firm resettlement and its exceptions for substantial evidence; the court declined to decide on the validity of the BIA's burden-shifting framework for determining whether firm resettlement has occurred because the framework is irrelevant in this case; and substantial evidence supports the BIA's finding that petitioner was not in Mexico only as long as was necessary to arrange onward travel. In this case, after petitioner was removed to Mexico, she renewed her work visa, lived, and worked in Mexico for five years and thus established significant ties to Mexico. She had also previously entered the United States in 2007 for the birth of one of her children; afterwards, she returned to Mexico. Although her children did not go to school in Mexico, they lived with her there. Her husband often commuted between the United States and Mexico in order to live with petitioner and their children. Accordingly, the court denied the petition. View "Lara v. Lynch" on Justia Law