Lopez Martinez v. Blanche
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Remanded
The First Circuit granted Victor Geovany Lopez Martinez’s petition for review, vacating the BIA’s denial of his asylum and withholding-of-removal applications. The court held that the BIA impermissibly applied a categorical rule that resistance to gang recruitment can never amount to a political opinion and failed to analyze Lopez’s religion-based claim, and therefore remanded for further proceedings.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether the ‘one central reason’ causation standard or the more lenient ‘a reason’ standard governs withholding-of-removal claims under 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(A).
Circuit Positions
‘One central reason’ standard applies to withholding of removal.
Only ‘a reason’ is required for withholding of removal (no ‘one central reason’ requirement).
Issue expressly noted but not yet resolved by the circuit.
Conflict Summary
Several circuits hold that, just as in asylum cases, a non-citizen seeking withholding of removal must prove that a protected ground is ‘one central reason’ for the threatened persecution. Other circuits require only that a protected ground be ‘a reason’ for the threatened harm. The First Circuit, in this opinion, acknowledges the split but again declines to choose a side.