Perdomo v. Holder: A Step Forward in Recognizing Gender as a "Particular Social Group" Per Se

Abstract

On July 12, 2010, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in Perdomo v. Holder, ruled that the Board of Immigration Appeals had erred in finding that an asylum applicant failed to establish membership in a “particular social group” under the Immigration and Nationality Act when she defined the social group as “all Guatemalan women.” This Comment argues that the BIA should use Perdomo as an opportunity to establish gender as a “particular social group” per se in order to address the inconsistency with which courts have defined this category in asylum cases involving gender-based persecution.