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Lahoma Cuc Chub Case Study

Decent Essays

Lead respondent, Lahoma Cuc Chub, is a 29 year old Guatemalan national, who entered the U.S. without inspection on November 7, 2015, at the Arizona/Mexico border. Co-respondent, Merlyn Lahoma Gomez Cuc, is the 4 year old Guatemalan child of the lead respondent, who entered the U.S. with lead respondent and without inspection. The respondents are charged with removability pursuant to INA § 212(a)(6)(A)(i) as aliens present in the U.S. without being admitted or paroled, which respondents have conceded. Lead respondent filed an I-589 Asylum Application received by the USCIS on April 8, 2016, or within one (1) year of her arrival (see Tab J – USCIS Receipt, and Tab A – Form I-589 and Tab P – Amended Form I-589). The co-respondent is listed as …show more content…

Luis Adolfo Gomez Zacarias was a local businessman engaged in retail sales of food and household items. For an extended period, prior to September 20, 2013, he was being extorted under death threats by an organized criminal gang, and when no longer able to pay the 500 Quetzal per month extortion demand, he was murdered. The day prior to his murder, he implored his spouse to take measures to protect herself and their child, prompting lead respondent to seek police assistance and protection when her spouse failed to arrive home from work. The police, ignored her multiple requests for help, and the following morning Luis Adolfo Gomez Zacarias was found murdered by gunshot to the head (see Tab G and Tab L). Local neighbors, familiar with police unwillingness to aid residents of the community under extortion threats by gangs, organized street protests against the police because of police inaction after lead respondent’s pleas for …show more content…

She was not employed at the time of her husband’s murder, but shortly after, one “El Canche” of the gang, called and threated her and her child with the same fate as Luis if she failed to assume and continue the 500 Quetzals per month extortion payment. For about 18 months, lead respondent paid the demand by liquidating household items and receiving financial contribution from her parents. She sought employment after her husband’s murder, but for over a year prospective employers would not offer employment due to her being the surviving spouse of a gang related murder victim and the prospect of her being pursued at her place of employment with risk that the employer becoming ensnarled in gang extortion

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