October 6, 2023
On September 29, 2023, Kobre & Kim’s pro bono team worked with Human Rights First to successfully gain asylum for their client C, helping her and her three young children escape gang violence in Honduras.
C fled Honduras to seek asylum in the U.S. following the tragic murders of several family members by the mara (Honduran gangs). In 2012, C’s brother was murdered outside his home after repeatedly refusing to join the mara, and C cooperated with the police investigation. Two years later, the mara pursued two of C’s sisters and attempted to kidnap one of her nieces; C attempted to protect her niece but was beaten unconscious. C’s sisters were murdered six months later, and C again provided information to the local police, marking her further for retaliation.
Knowing she would not be safe from the mara anywhere in Honduras, C fled the country with her then-six-year-old. After ten arduous months of travel, she arrived in the U.S. and filed for asylum. In 2017, Kobre & Kim’s pro bono team agreed to represent C. After years of waiting, C finally had her immigration court hearing on September 29, 2023, where she shared the persecution she had suffered and underwent cross-examination by the Assistant Chief Counsel from U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE).
At the end of the hearing, the judge granted asylum based on C’s claim of family-based persecution. ICE waived its right to appeal. Kobre & Kim is grateful that C and her three young children will now be able to live safely in the United States.
C’s pro bono team includes Benjamin Sirota, Scott Nielson, Amy Rossabi, Abe Waserstein, Andrea Romero, Douglas Shao, Hayne Park and Julia Campbell.