The Seventh Circuit has determined that a petitioner who was threatened at gunpoint by maras because his brother left the gang was persecuted on account of his family membership.
In a footnote, the court also recognized the indecipherable nature of the BIA’s case law on particular social groups. “W.G.A.’s arguments that the Board’s interpretation is unreasonable have some force. He argues that social distinction and particularity create a conceptual trap that is difficult, if not impossible, to navigate. The applicant must identify a group that is broad enough that the society as a whole recognizes it, but not so broad that it fails particularity. And as we have stated, rejecting a social group because it is too broad ‘would be akin to saying that the victims of widespread governmental ethnic cleansing can‐ not receive asylum simply because there are too many of them.’”
The full text of WGA v. Sessions can be found here: