Particular Social Group – Ethnicity

Hello, everyone. Yifei He, your immigration lawyer. Today I'll be talking about asylum. It's one of the most important protections you can receive as an immigrant to the United States. People who seek asylum, they're usually refugees fleeing their home countries because they suffered harm there, and the harm they suffered was on account of a protected class. There's only five protected classes under US asylum law: race, religion, nationality, political opinion and, fifth, the most amorphous, particular social group. And today I'll be talking about the fifth category, a particular social group. In particular, I'll be talking about ethnicity. A lot of people seek asylum based on ethnicity, and ethnicity is different from race or nationality. For example, if you're a Kurd, you can be living in different nations but still meet the definition of refugee. Similarly, if you're an individual of one of the 250 ethnic tribes in Nigeria, you can still meet the definition of refugee, even though you're a similar race from someone who might be persecuting you. And the harm you've suffered must have been on account of your ethnicity. A clear example would be the Rwandan crisis where the Hutus targeted the Tutsis on account of their different ethnicity. And because of that, those who are fleeing, can seek protection. A different example would be if you are harmed on account of an arbitrary reason not relating to your ethnicity. In that situation, you would not qualify for protection. Again, my name is Yifei He. I'm here to help you figure out ways to protect yourself. If you have any questions about asylum, refugee law or a particular social group, you can contact my law firm. We put the grant back in Immigrant. Thank you.