Court Considers Wealth As Asylum Claim [View All]

[Rose Siding]

NEW YORK -- A federal appeals court has ordered an immigration board to consider whether some Guatemalans could qualify for asylum over fear of persecution for being rich.

Ruling in a case of a couple whose asylum claim was denied, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said a judge should have considered testimony that they had been threatened with kidnapping and that police did not help them.
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An immigration judge denied the application, saying affluent Guatemalans did not make up a "readily identifiable social group."

But on Wednesday, the three-judge appeals panel ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals -- a step higher than an immigration judge -- to decide whether there is a legitimate social group of affluent Guatemalans who suffer persecution fueled by class rivalry in an impoverished society.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-wealthy-asylum,1,7035918.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines