Border Project client secures protection under Withholding of Removal and Convention Against Torture

Client(s) D.B.

Following a two-day hearing, a Jones Day team successfully represented a detained Border Project client, D.B., at her individual merits hearing in the Laredo, Texas Immigration Court. From Guatemala, D.B. fled to the United States twice (the second time, she was forced to leave her son in Guatemala in her mother's care) to escape her husband who subjected her to severe mental, physical, and sexual abuse on account of her status as an indigenous woman. D.B. is Mayan and her family speaks Mam. The immigration judge granted D.B. very uncommon relief in the form of withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture. (D.B. is barred from asylum due to a prior removal order.) While this is an incredible win—the team was told this was an impossible case given the facts and the 5th Circuit precedent—OPLA attorneys have filed a notice of appeal, and the team is continuing to fight for D.B. and advocating for her release pending resolution of the government's appeal. (Jones Day also handled the appeal representation, which is fully briefed and pending a decision from the BIA).