Just after taking office, on February 2, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order requiring immigration agencies to promulgate new regulations that define “particular social group” (PSG) for asylum purposes. As asylum advocates continue to wait for those regulations to published, how to define PSGs remains challenging.

Last summer, Attorney General Merrick Garland vacated two of the most damaging Trump-era attorney general decisions by issuing Matter of A-B- III, 28 I&N Dec. 307 (A.G. 2021) and Matter of L-E-A- III, 28 I&N Dec. 304 (A.G. 2021), restoring the ability to formulate PSGs based on inability to leave a marital relationship and based on family membership. But formulating successful PSGs continues to be one of the most difficult areas of asylum law. In this roundtable, practitioners will share what PSGs are currently being accepted as cognizable and what PSGs are being rejected by adjudicators.

Discussion Topics

• How are Asylum Officers and IJs treating family-based PSGs?
• What PSGs are most successful in the context of domestic violence-based claims?
• How should practitioners preserve arguments for other PSGs given the uncertainty of the forthcoming regulatory PSG definition?

This roundtable is hosted by AILA's Asylum and Refugee Committee.

This roundtable is available only to AILA members and not CLE eligible. AILA University Video Roundtables are free learning opportunities for AILA members provided via a weekly schedule of live video programming for members to come together from across the country and world to discuss hot topics and network with colleagues in the field. Video Roundtables are part of AILA University programming and each session is hosted by faculty selected for their expertise.