I. qualifies for withholding of removal because shehas suffered past persecution on account of her membership in the particular anddistinct social group of single mothers of adolescent and teenage girls and youngwomen 3A. Evidence in the record shows that suffered persecution. 3B. New evidence, not available at the time of the asylum interview, further details thepersecution that has suffered. 4C. suffered persecution on account of her membership in thediscrete, particular, and socially visible social group of single mothers of adolescent andteenage in El Salvador. 51. The asylum officer erred in failing to consider Ms. argument that she waspersecuted on account of her status as a single mother of adolescent and/or teenage

52. Single mothers of adolescent or teenage share common immutablecharacteristics and constitute a particular, visible social group in El Salvador. 6

D. It is more likely than not that Maras “ or their associates or otherMaras, will carry out their threats against and her

should the family be forced to return to El Salvador. 81. Because she has suffered persecution in the past, does not need toshow the likelihood of future harm. 82. Evidence supports a finding that persecutors would, more likely than not, persecute

and her should the family be forced toreturn to El Salvador. 9

II. merits protection under the Convention AgainstTorture. 10A. suffered torture at the hands of “ and “Droga.” 10B. The asylum officer erred in failing to credit Ms. testimony about crimescommitted with impunity, and therefore with the apparent consent or acquiescence ofSalvadoran law enforcement 111. credibly testified, based on her knowledge of twoindependent, specific incidents, that gang members act with consent or acquiescenceof government 112. The asylum officer erred in not only discrediting Ms. testimony but also infailing to consider well-­‐established facts about the government’s consent oracquiescence to violence against women. 12

C. Most acts of violence in El Salvador are unsolved, few result in conviction, and as a result,those who commit violence against others enjoy impunity. 13D. El Salvador is characterized by pervasive violence against women. 141. In El Salvador, femicide takes place at a higher rate than in any other nation. 142. Rape and sexual harassment are very common forms of violence against women inEl Salvador. 15

E. Severe violence, including rape and murder, against women takes place with the consentor acquiescence of Salvadoran law enforcement and other government officials. 151. Those who commit violence against women and girls do so with impunity. 152. Members of the Maras-­‐13 and Dieciocho gangs, specifically, who engage in the“systematic practice” of raping girls do so with impunity. 16Law enforcement and other government officials, utterly fail to prevent, halt, or punishpersecution of girls by gang members. 17

2

3. Because the misogynistic culture of violence against women permeates throughoutthe public security institutions in El Salvador, law enforcement acquiesces in violenceagainst women 17

III. The asylum office should re-­consider its findings in light of the report of DeanLuis H. Zayas and other information concerning the trauma of this year’s events on

19A. The asylum officer’s failure to consider the report of Dean Luis H. Zayas was an error. 19B. Letter of Dean Zayas corroborates the damage perpetrated on

19

3

I. qualifies for withholding of removal because she has suffered past persecution on account of her

membership in the particular and distinct social group of single mothers of adolescent and teenage girls and young women

A. Evidence in the record shows that suffered persecution. The evidence in the record compels the conclusion that

has suffered persecution in the past by two men belong to the Maras, whose nicknames are and (written as in the attached Exhibit A, Reasonable Fear Determination narrative, p.5). These men threatened her specifically three times, including threatening her

See Exhibit A, Record of Reasonable Fear Determination, interview transcript, pp. 6, 7, 8, 9, 13, and 14. On the third occasion, “ and entered the home of

and her daughter’s without permission. “It gets dark quickly over there and my house is not a big house. They just showed up suddenly. It is made up of sticks and wire. There is no gate or anything it is just kind of out in the open.”1 See Exhibit A, transcript p. 14.

and threatened that they and herself while they held a gun against

her head. Exhibit A, transcript, pp. 8 and 14.

1 Adding punctuation to a transcript of an oral interview is an art, rather than a reflection of objective reality. The transcript in the Record of Negative Reasonable Fear Finding makes clear that the transcriber gave the asylum officer the benefit of the doubt in adding punctuation his, the asylum officer’s oral speech, so that the asylum officer’s speech appears clear and coherent. The same transcript presents a rendition of Ms. speech that is unpunctuated and thus appears less coherent, but presents the speech of as less coherent and thus, at moments, potentially unclear. This lack of punctuation exacerbates the distortion of the transcript, which is an English transcription of an interview that took place in both English and Spanish. I have added punctuation to the transcript in order to clarify what

said and meant.

4

B. New evidence, not available at the time of the asylum interview, further details the persecution that has suffered. At the time of the reasonable fear interview on August 27, 2014,

was not able to discuss the reasons for the family leaving El Salvador. More recently, however, she was able to explain the circumstances in writing. See attached Exhibits B-1, Handwritten statement of and B-2, English translation of handwritten statement of

In this statement, documents ds of “ and

day.

. Of the invasion of their home and the threats the men made there,writes:

Just a few days [after “ and I have to say, that was

the worst day of my life. I felt like the world was going to end that day.. . don’t even know when they got there or how they got in, they just opened the door very forcefully.

I

started telling that man, please, for the love of God, don’t shoot. The man yelled at me to shut up, and the other man who was there started to laugh at us. Then all of a sudden he was quiet, and he started looking me up and down, and he came closer to me. He looked at me with such a sinister look, I will never forget those horrible eyes, and he told me that if my mom

That man made disgusting gestures and said things that he wanted to do to

5

me. Exhibit B-2, English translation of Statement of pp. 2-3. Emphasis added.

The threats that and made against

persecution against as well as

against her and

C. suffered persecution on account of her membership in the discrete, particular, and socially visible social group of single mothers of adolescent and teenage in El Salvador.

Maras and persecuted on the basis of her particular social group, that is, El Salvadoran women who are single mothers of adolescent and teenager girls. While Maras deliberately inflict serious harm on other people, as well, the threats and actions of these two men against were specifically based on her status as a single mother of The Board of Immigration Appeals has recently emphasized that “an claim regarding the existence of a particular social group in a country must be evaluated in the context of the evidence presented regarding the particular circumstances in the country in question.” Matter of A-R-C-G et al., Respondents, 26 I & N Dec. 388, 392 (BIA 2014).

1. The asylum officer erred in failing to consider Ms.argument that she was persecuted on account of her status as a single mother of adolescent and/or teenage The asylum officer appears not to have considered the claim that Ms.

had been persecuted because of her status, and membership in the particular and visible social group of single mothers of adolescent and teenage in El Salvador. In his decision, the asylum officer only discusses general claims about resistance to gang membership. Exhibit A, Reasonable Fear Determination, page 3. Gender is an immutable characteristic, Matter of Acosta, 19 I & N Dec. 211, 233 (BIA 1985), as are other defining characteristics marital status, parenthood, and ages of All of these characteristics “either cannot be changed or that the group should not be required to change in order to avoid persecution” Matter of W-G-R-, 26 I&N Dec. 208, 213 (BIA 2014). Moreover, these characteristics are also socially visible and exist independently of persecution.

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2. Single mothers of adolescent or teenage share common immutable characteristics and constitute a particular, visible social group in El Salvador.

a. Single women in El Salvador share a common, immutable characteristic and constitute a particular and distinct social group.

Whether a woman is married or single is a characteristic generally recognizable by others in the community, that is, it is socially visible. Matter of S- E- G-, 25 I & N, December 579, 586 (BIA 2008). The group of “single women” in a given location exists in itself, regardless of whether or not the group is subject to persecution, and is visible to both the community at large and specifically to those who would prey on this population. Marital status is immutable in two ways. First, marital status is a characteristic that a person should not have to change in order to avoid persecution. Second, such status is immutable in that it is a status not exclusively in the control of and may not be at all under control.

is a member of the social group of single women in El Salvador.

b. Single mothers in El Salvador share common and immutable characteristics and constitute a particular and distinct social group.

Whether a woman is a single mother or not is a characteristic generally recognizable by others in the community, that is, it is socially visible. Matter of S- E- G-, 25 I & N, December 579, 586. The group of “single mothers” in a given location exists in itself, regardless of whether or not the group is subject to persecution, and is visible to both the community at large and specifically to those who would prey on this population. Jeffra Flaitz reported the statistic that twenty-five (25) percent of households in El Salvador are led by single mothers. See Exhibit C, Understanding Your Refugee and Immigrant Students: An Educational, Cultural, and Linguistic Guide, University of Michigan, 2006, at 3. If the group of single mothers was not particular and discrete, it could not be enumerated. The U.S. Department of State also recognizes single mothers as a particular group. See Exhibit D. In its 2006 report on El Salvador, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor wrote that “Particular groups at special risk for trafficking. . [included]. . single mothers in poor areas…[among others]. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy,

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Human Rights, and Labor, “El Salvador,” March 6, 2007, http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78891.htm , last accessed November 27, 2014, emphasis added. The status of motherhood and the status of single motherhood are both immutable in fact as well as in law. Motherhood is not a characteristic that a woman is able to change. Moreover, marital status and motherhood are both characteristics that, even if susceptible to change, a woman should not have to change in order to avoid persecution.

c. Adolescent and teenage girls in El Salvador share common and immutable characteristics and constitute a particular and distinct social group.

Gender and age are both characteristics that are generally recognizable by others in the community, that is, it is socially visible. Matter of S- E- G- , 25 I & N, December 579, 586. The group of adolescent and teenage girls in a given location exists in itself, regardless of whether or not the group is subject to persecution, and is visible to both the community at large and specifically to those who would prey on this population. The U.S. Department of State recognizes “girls and young women from 12 to 19 years old” as a particular group. See Exhibit D. In its 2006 report on El Salvador, the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor wrote that “Particular groups at special risk for trafficking [included] girls and young women from 12 to 19 years of age…[among others]. U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, “El Salvador,” March 6, 2007, http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2006/78891.htm last accessed November 27, 2014, emphasis added. While it acknowledges the “complexity of defining adolescence,” 2 UNICEF defines adolescents as “individuals aged 10-19 years old; in effect, those in the second decade of their lives.” The State of the World’s Children 2011, Adolescence: An Age of Opportunity,” http://www.unicef.org/adolescence/files/SOWC 2011 Main Report EN 02092011.pdf,

2 These complexities include these facts: a) girls and boys reach puberty at different ages, b) various nutritional factors are causing many girls to experience puberty at earlier ages than in the past, c) the legal age of majority varies widely across the world, d) legal age for marriage also varies widely, and may or may not correspond to the legal age of majority “State of the World’s Children 2011” at

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that it is more likely than not that she would be persecuted on account of her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. However, she can demonstrate that such persecution is, in fact, more likely than not.

2. Evidence supports a finding that persecutors would, more likely than not, persecute and her

should the family be forced to return to El Salvador. As told the asylum interviewer, she suffered persecution because she knew that

Fear Determination, interview transcript, pp. 8-9. At page 9, tells the asylum officer:

. Record of Reasonable Fear Determination narrative.

concluded that

of her and herself that they threatened, given all of the following facts:

a. threatened

b. came to her home;

c. entered her home without permission;

d held a gun against her head;

d.

e. assaulted

Exhibits A, B-1, and B-2. These events demonstrate a strong probability that

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conduct to the abstract and legal category of “torture” is the job of asylum officers and legal professionals, not humble refugees unversed in international law.

B. The asylum officer erred in failing to credit Ms.testimony about crimes committed with impunity, and therefore with the apparent consent or acquiescence of Salvadoran law enforcement Several times during her August 27, 2014 interview,

testified about the futility and fatal danger of filing police reports, because, at best, the police will not act effectively, and at worst, the person who reports or agrees to testify about an act of violence will be killed. See Exhibit A, Report of Negative Reasonable Fear Finding, interview transcript at pp. 7, 9 (“Right now the way things are . . you could go to the police and try to file a report and it is no importance they can just kill you at any time anywhere”), 10-11, and 12 (“Well what I am saying is that no one goes and files a report because let’s say I am threatened in front of someone and I would like you to be my witness, no one will do that and that is the first thing they [the police] ask for is “Do you have a witness?” and no one will do that because they know they will be killed” and “I believe they [the police] would just watch as I am being beaten [if the police were present while she was being harmed]”). 3

1. credibly testified, based on her knowledge of two independent, specific incidents, that gang members act with consent or acquiescence of government Based on the “common knowledge” of her compatriots, it was and is reasonable for to believe that the Maras act with the consent or acquiescence of Salvadoran law enforcement and other government officials. In addition, knew and about specific incidents to which she testified in the original interview. She reasonably and correctly concluded that the Maras act with the consent or acquiescence of Salvadoran law enforcement and other government officials.

a. After a fatal shooting of a young woman on a bus, a witness who reported the shooting was killed, and law enforcement failed to prosecute those responsible for either or both killings.

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During the reasonable fear interview conducted in August, recounted what happened to

See Record of Negative Reasonable Fear Finding, interview transcript. 6-7. was shot on a bus; though she did not die at once, the wounds were fatal. A fellow passenger called the police (“he called and called”) who did not arrive until later, by which time the young woman had died. The fellow passenger gave a description of the shooters to the police and “a few days later he was killed for having called the police and giving a description and telling the mother what happened.” See Record of Negative Fear Finding, transcript of interview, p. 7. Moreover, law enforcement failed to find or prosecute those responsible for the killings, even after they received a formal report. Ibid., p. 7.

b. Killing of young taxi driver During her August 27, 2014, interview, also told the asylum officer that she had witnessed the killing of a

and in front of the hospital. . . Right there in plain daylight in front of everyone and you can see it and there is no point in saying who did it because then they will come and kill you.” See Record of Negative Reasonable Fear Finding, p. 10. According to the police also witnessed the killing, but they did not arrest the killers. The police

2. The asylum officer erred in not only discrediting Ms. testimony but also in failing to consider well-established facts about the government’s consent or acquiescence to violence against women. The asylum officer held that does not have a reasonable fear of torture in El Salvador because she “does not fear she will harmed or tortured by public officials.” Exhibit A, Reasonable Fear Determination by at page 4. The asylum officer erred, however, to the extent that he required to ascribe the actual conduct to public officials. The law acknowledges that torture also takes place with “the consent or acquiescence” of public officials or other persons “acting in an official capacity.” Apparently, the asylum officer did not credit

belief that the threats and actions of “ and and other Maras took place with the consent or acquiescence of Salvadoran law enforcement and other government officials.

13

The reasonable fear interview focused on the fear of based on her own experiences, which is appropriate as far as it

goes. The reasonableness of her fear, however, depends in part on conditions in El Salvador. If the asylum officer discredited her own beliefs and experiences, he should have considered her fear in light of the conditions in El Salvador; the U.S. Department of State has clearly described the ineffectiveness of law enforcement in El Salvador. At a full hearing on the merits of her claim, could demonstrate, that and other members of “Los Maras” act with the consent or acquiescence of law enforcement and other government officials in El Salvador. Conditions in El Salvador, and particularly ubiquitous violence against women, support the reasonable belief of that the Maras act with the consent or acquiescence of Salvadoran law enforcement and other government officials. Such acquiescence, however, is so well established that asylum officers should know about it.

C. Most acts of violence in El Salvador are unsolved, few result in conviction, and as a result, those who commit violence against others enjoy impunity. The U.S. Department of State reports that, among the “principal human rights problems” in El Salvador are “weaknesses in the judiciary and the security forces that contributed to a high level impunity. .” Exhibit F, El Salvador 2013 Human Rights Report, p.1. The Salvadoran law enforcement agency is named the National Civilian Police and goes by the initial’s “PNC.” The same U.S. State Department report identified some of the specific weaknesses: “Inadequate training, lack of enforcement of the administrative police career law, arbitrary promotions, insufficient government funding, failure to effectively enforce evidentiary rules, and instances of corruption and criminality limited the PNC’s effectiveness.” Exhibit F, p. 5. Reports that are more recent also reinforce the conclusions that the government of El Salvador “lacks sufficient resources to properly investigate and prosecute cases and to deter violent crime,”4 that “a majority of serious

4 A majority of serious crimes are never solved; only six of the 33 murders committed against U.S. citizens since January 2010 have resulted in convictions. The Government of El Salvador lacks sufficient resources to properly investigate and prosecute cases and to deter violent crime. While several of the PNC’s investigative units have shown great promise, routine street-level patrol techniques, anti-gang, and crime suppression efforts are

14

crimes are never solved,”5 “the likelihood for redress through the judicial system is limited,” 6 and “only a small percentage of cases result in conviction. See Exhibit G, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Passports & International Travel, El Salvador Alert, November 21, 2014, http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/el-salvador-travel-warning.html, last accessed November 28, 2014. See also Exhibit H, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Passports & International Travel, El Salvador Alert, November 17, 2014, http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/el-salvador.html (last accessed November 29, 2014).

D. El Salvador is characterized by pervasive violence against women.

1. In El Salvador, femicide takes place at a higher rate than in any other nation. Lethal violence against women takes place at a greater rate in El Salvador, 12 per 100,000 people, than anywhere else in the world. Exhibit I, Small Arms Survey, “Femicide: A Global Problem,” Graduate Institute of International and Developmental Studies, Geneva, Switzerland, Number 14, February 2012, http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/H-Research Notes/SAS-Research-Note-14.pdf, last accessed November 28. As

limited. Equipment shortages (particularly radios, vehicles, and fuel) further limit their ability to deter or respond to crimes effectively. Exhibit G, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Passports & International Travel, El Salvador Alert, November 21, 2014, http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/alertswarnings/el-salvador-travel-warning.html, last accessed November 28, 2014, emphasis added. 5 Ibid. 6 Victims of crime should bear in mind that law enforcement resources are limited and judicial processes are uneven in El Salvador. Most crimes in the country (including murder) go unsolved, and the likelihood for redress through the judicial system is limited. As a result, only a small percentage of cases result in conviction. Exhibit H, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Passports & International Travel, El Salvador Alert, November 17, 2014, http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/el-salvador.html, last accessed November 29, 2014, emphasis added.

15

Bethel Domfeh argues that the high rate of femicide in El Salvador is no accident, but the result of prevailing attitudes towards women and a lack of concern for their safety. “[M]any femicide reports fill El Salvador’s daily news publications. The reports suggest that these cold murders are a result of the overwhelming disregard for state and local legislation to improve the safety of women…” Exhibit J, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, “Femicide Looms Over Latin America,” August 7, 2014, http://www.coha.org/femicide-looms-over-latin-america/, last accessed November 22, 2014.

2. Rape and sexual harassment are very common forms of violence against women in El Salvador. The U.S. Department of State concedes that rape is also pervasive in El Salvador.

“Rape remains a serious and ever present concern. From 2010 through 2012, an average of 461 rapes per year were reported. Local police and judicial experts estimate that fewer than 20 percent of rapes are reported to authorities. Services for victims of rape are very limited, and many victims choose not to participate in the investigation and prosecution of the crime for fear of not being treated respectfully by the authorities. Many murder victims show signs of rape, and survivors may not report the crime of rape for fear of retaliation.” Exhibit K, U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, El Salvador 2014 Crime and Safety Report, https://www.osac.gov/pages/ContentReportDetails.aspx?cid=15771, p. 2

It would be a terrible mistake, however, to conclude that non-reporting or under-reporting of rape is the reason for the impunity that perpetrators enjoy, as discussed below. See especially Exhibit L, below.

E. Severe violence, including rape and murder, against women takes place with the consent or acquiescence of Salvadoran law enforcement and other government officials.

1. Those who commit violence against women and girls do so with impunity. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) a membership organization of currently thirty-four (34) nations, including the United States dedicated to global develop, identifies, analyzes and monitors problems that block development. Its interests necessarily include gender equality or the lack thereof. Drawing on recent data from Amnesty International, El Salvador, the Organization of American States, the United

16

Nations, individual researchers, and others, and U.S. Department of State from 2013, the OECD addressed the issue of violence against women. Among OECD’s critical findings are the following.

- Incidents of rape continue to be underreported for several reasons, including societal and cultural pressures on victims, fear of reprisal, ineffective and unsupportive responses by authorities toward victims, fear of publicity, and a perception among victims that cases were unlikely to be prosecuted

- Laws against rape were not effectively enforced,

- ..in 2008, there were 4,120 sexual violence cases, up from 3,368 in 2007, documented by the Institute of Forensic Medicine

- Impunity regarding cases of sexual violence is high

- Of the 2,057 cases brought to court by the Office of the Procurator-General in 2008, 812 were provisionally dismissed, 857 were definitively dismissed and 700 went to trial. Ultimately, those trials resulted in 200 convictions and 153 acquittals.

Exhibit L, Social Institutions & Gender Index, El Salvador, http://www.genderindex.org/sites/default/files/datasheets/SV.pdf, last accessed November 28, 2014, pp. 2-3. In other words, 4.8% of documented cases resulted in convictions. The failure of El Salvador to effectively prevent and prosecute sexual violence cannot be primarily, much less exclusively, be attributed to the failure of girls and women to report such crimes.

2. Members of the Maras-13 and Dieciocho gangs, specifically, who engage in the “systematic practice” of raping girls do so with impunity. Dr. Sonja Wolf is a researcher with the Drug Policy Programme at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) – Región Centro in Aguascalientes, Mexico. She writes about the systematic practice, committed by gangs including the Maras, of raping girls, and that the Maras enjoy “pervasive impunity.”

Members of both MS-13 and the Dieciocho have turned to raping girls, sparing only those, such as relatives or girlfriends, who are already linked to the groups. These acts,

17

perpetrated with alarming cruelty, have developed into a systematic practice in schools that are located in gang-affected communities. In one case the victim had been chosen as a birthday present to one of the gang members and was raped by at least 15 youths, some as young as twelve, for more than three hours. When the physical agony had ended, the female was threatened with death if she broke her silence. The occurrence of these incidents is widely known among teachers, but these feel powerless to put a halt to them. The power of the maras, combined with pervasive impunity, means that these crimes are generally not reported to the authorities. Instead, the victims simply try to put the experience behind them. Many consider that rape is the lesser evil in areas where murder is a daily possibility. Exhibit N, Sonja Wolf, “The Maras – an escalating problem in El Salvador,” 25 January 2012, Latin American Bureau (LAB), http://www.lab.org.uk/index.php?option=com content&view=article&id=1200%3Athe-maras-an-escalating-problem-in-el-salvador&catid=57%3Afocus&Itemid=39

Law enforcement and other government officials, utterly fail to prevent, halt, or punish persecution of girls by gang members.

3. Because the misogynistic culture of violence against women permeates throughout the public security institutions in El Salvador, law enforcement acquiesces in violence against women There is a causal relationship, according to Dr. between deeply ingrained misogynist attitudes and behaviors and the fact that law enforcement officials fail to take seriously violence against women.

A decade of intense

brought me to the inexorable conclusion that El Salvador is a politically polarized and culturally conservative country in which social change comes about slowly and under tumultuous circumstances. The conditions facing women are a product of generations of conservative rule by various ultra-right wing political parties and military governments since being founded in the 1820s. The former administration of President Carlos Mauricio Funes Cartagena (June 1, 2009 – June 1, 2014) made some reforms to improve the quality of life for the average person. The larger social and political trends that include violence against women, extortion, and

18

the use of arbitrary violence, including torture and possibly extrajudicial execution by state authorities, however, remain the norm in El Salvador. The misogynistic culture of violence against women permeates throughout the public security institutions in El Salvador. There are numerous accounts of agents of the PNC being involved in sexual violence against women in Salvadoran civil society. Moreover, even women police officers within the PNC have been subject to sexual harassment and violence from their superiors and fellow officers. Exhibit N, Statement of Dr.

pp. 6-7.

It is not simply lack of funding, lack of training, lack of equipment, or inefficiency, that renders law enforcement agencies in El Salvador. Rather, the entrenched anti-female attitudes, the “overwhelming disregard” for women’s safety, and misogynist behaviors within the police contribute to the failure of law enforcement to protect, stop, or prosecute crimes against women.

Given the PNC institutional resistance to treating women with respect and equality, it is highly unlikely that the PNC would take serious and effective efforts to protect

or

from gang violence. Exhibit N, Statement of Dr. p. 7.

It is more likely than not than the men who committed violent threats and acts of violence against and her did so with the consent or acquiescence of law enforcement and other government officials in El Salvador. Conditions in El Salvador, and particularly ubiquitous violence against women, support the reasonable belief of that the Maras act with the consent or acquiescence of Salvadoran law enforcement and other government officials. Such acquiescence, however, is so well established that asylum officers should know about it. Overall, both the testimony at the reasonable fear interview, and information not available to support the finding that that the Maras act with the consent or acquiescence of law enforcement and other government officials in El Salvador.

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III. The asylum office should re-consider its findings in light of the report of Dean Luis H. Zayas and other information concerning the trauma of this year’s events on and

her

A. The asylum officer’s failure to consider the report of Dean Luis H. Zayas was an error. Luis H. Zayas, PhD., Dean of the School of Social Work and holder of the Robert Lee Sutherland Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, conducted a brief evaluation of

and her in August, 2014. Dean Zayas wrote a brief report about his findings in an e-mail to the undersigned attorney, who gave it to Asylum Officer immediately before the asylum interview. The report is attached here as Exhibit O. However, neither the asylum officer nor the supervisory asylum officers mention Dean Zayas’ report in the Record of Negative Reasonable Fear Finding of the letter, Exhibit A. As the letter was made available to the asylum office on August 27, and the asylum office did not issue its decision until October, there was ample time for the officers to consider this relevant and material evidence, and it was error not to do so.

B. Letter of Dean Zayas corroborates the damage perpetrated on

This letter makes clear that the persecution and torture she has suffered has left a traumatic mark on such that repatriation would be cruel or inhumane, and in violation of U.S. and international law. Dr. Zayas wrote that “is affected by the severe circumstances of the threats to her and her Because of her responsibility to protect she must maintain a strong exterior. Underlying this stance, she is depressed and shows signs of trauma (vegetative signs). In light of both the evidence available to it at the time of the interview, and new evidence not available in August, the Asylum Office should reconsider and reverse its negative reasonable fear determination in the matter of

and her three minor Respectfully Submitted,

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