Opinion
No. 10-70389 Agency No. A098-797-112
05-28-2014
EDWIN LEONARDO MIDENCE-MARTINEZ, Petitioner, v. ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., Attorney General, Respondent.
NOT FOR PUBLICATION
MEMORANDUM
This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by 9th Cir. R. 36-3.
On Petition for Review of an Order of the
Board of Immigration Appeals
Submitted May 22, 2014
The panel unanimously concludes this case is suitable for decision without oral argument. See Fed. R. App. P. 34(a)(2).
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Pasadena, California
Before: PREGERSON, BERZON, and CHRISTEN, Circuit Judges.
Edwin Leonardo Midence-Martinez petitions for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals' ("BIA") denial of his application for asylum and withholding of removal, as well as its rejection of his motion to remand. We grant the petition and remand.
Midence sought asylum and withholding of removal based on persecution on account of his membership in a particular social group consisting of young men from Honduras who refused to join gangs. See 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(42)(A), 1231(b)(3)(A). He also moved the BIA to remand his case to the Immigration Judge ("IJ") in light of the IJ's failure to consider Midence's membership in a particular social group consisting of young, handicapped, Catholic men in Honduras who refuse to join gangs.
The BIA reasoned that the particular social groups in which Midence claimed membership are not cognizable under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The BIA has since published two precedential opinions clarifying its interpretation of the term "particular social group" in light of Henriquez-Rivas v. Holder, 707 F.3d 1081 (9th Cir. 2013) (en banc). See Matter of W-G-R-, 26 I. & N. Dec. 208 (2014); Matter of M-E-V-G-, 26 I. & N. Dec. 227 (2014). As in a recent case, "we remand the petition to the BIA to consider [Midence's] asylum claim in light of those decisions. . . . We also advise the BIA to consider [Midence's] petition in light of Henriquez-Rivas . . . ." Pirir-Boc v. Holder, — F.3d — , 2014 WL 1797657, at *5 (9th Cir. May 7, 2014).
GRANTED and REMANDED.