Woman who fled Central America obtains stay of removal

Client(s) Client

Jones Day, working in conjunction with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, obtained a temporary stay of removal from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit for a Central American client in a life-or-death appeal. Our client came to the United States after being brutally persecuted in her home country. Once here, she sought withholding of removal under the Immigration and Nationality Act and protection under the Convention Against Torture, but was denied relief by the Immigration Judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). The Fifth Circuit stayed her removal pending its review of her petition.

When the BIA denied relief, our client’s automatic stay expired and she faced the prospect of being imminently returned to the country from which she had fled, where she would have faced likely persecution and torture. Jones Day thus immediately moved for reconsideration before the BIA while also filing a petition for review and seeking a temporary stay of removal from the Fifth Circuit. On September 5, 2017, the Fifth Circuit granted Jones Day’s request for a stay, thus permitting our client to remain in the United States pending further consideration of her claims on their merits.