Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

In a recent phenomenon, Central American youth have become the targets of forced recruitment by very powerful and well-entrenched gangs. The youth who refuse to join are often subject to vicious acts of retaliatory violence. Recently, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) has attempted to clarify its social visibility and particularity requirements for asylum in Matter of M-E- V-G- and Matter of WG-R, in effect, by renaming its social visibility element as social distinction and explaining that social group recognition for asylum purposes is determined by the perception of the society in question, rather than the perception of the persecutor. The BIA recognized that while the two criteria are similar they serve distinct functions. This Comment examines the development of these requirements and argues that the BIA should have eliminated the particularity requirement, and adopted a two-part "social distinction" test for assessing claims based on membership of a particular social group, thereby streamlining the process, minimizing ambiguity, and equalizing the chances of a successful asylum grant for this group, and similarly based social group claims.

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