Reissue of Jaco v. Garland
Gleidy Yessenia Jaco; Cristofer Alejandro Portillo Jaco v. Garland (5th Cir. October 27, 2021) No. 20-60081 (filed January 26, 2022) does not contain any material change in outcome or rationale.
The only difference I can detect between the original decision and the reissued decision is the deletion of “, and protection under CAT” from the last sentence of paragraph nine.
“CAT” is an acronym for the treaty signed by the United States on October 18, 1988 that is known as the “United Nations Convention Against Torture and other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.”
The amendment of paragraph nine of Jaco v. Garland is apparently necessary to exclude CAT from the description of the Petitioner’s persecution claims in the context of paragraph nine. Proof of “persecution” is not necessary to establish eligibility for relief under CAT.
On November 1, 2021, I posted a summary, including the case history, facts, holding and rationale along with commentary relating to the original October 27, 2021 Jaco v. Garland decision. This summary also appears on my blog at wkzbooks.com.
In general, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal concluded that to define a social group by its persecution collapses the “particular social group” and “persecution on account of membership” inquiries into the same question, contrary to the structure of the Act. See section 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended (“the Act”). Jaco v. Garland, at p. 12.