Oh brother, here is a story reported by Brenda Walker at VDARE that we need to watch.
It seems that the Mira youngsters (twin boys and a sister) were living with granny in El Salvador but claiming they might be made to join MS-13 or have bad things happen to them if they didn’t, they hopped across the border in Mexico to join mamma in Minnesota. Now, of course, I would like to know why Mama was in Minnesota and left her kids home in El Salvador, but that is another story.
Ordered to be deported, and while still appealing their deportation order, the US Supreme Court has taken an interest in the case. If the Mira’s win in the end, a national precedent could be set when asylum requests could be granted for a whole new very broad set of additional reasons. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune last month.
The Miras’ hopes to stay depend on how the Obama administration applies traditional definitions of asylum — protection for people fleeing persecution based on race, religion, nationality and political beliefs — to people claiming to be members of social groups that are targeted for reprisals by violent elements in the homelands.
Some officials have cautioned against widening the asylum window, warning that it could lead to unwanted immigrants, including possibly gang members fleeing violent lives.
Prospective asylees could then claim they were part of a targeted “social group” that was “persecuted” in some way. Lower courts have said the Miras were not a part of a “social group” simply as teens in El Salvador.
The young people must prove they are part of a particular “social group” being persecuted. The Miras made that case before local immigration courts and the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. Last year, the board acknowledged the dangers of returning to El Salvador, but said the Miras did not belong to a definable “social group.”
Not only was their appeal denied, but the board also used the Miras’ case as a national model for its decision to deny similar cases, said John Keller, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center.
Now the US Supreme Court has stepped in, they have received a temporary reprieve and the whole definition of what constitutes asylum claims is opened for possible expansion.
After the Miras were unexpectedly detained this month, their legal team filed several emergency appeals to halt the deportations. The Supreme Court last week ordered the Department of Homeland Security to respond to the emergency appeal; the department halted the deportation and agreed to reopen the case.
As I said at the outset, this is one to watch.