Third Circuit Case: Asylum denial

In an opinion (Calona-Escobar et al. v. Att'y Gen.), filed December 9, 2025, the Third Circuit denied the petition for review of Alcira Mireya Calona-Escobar and J.R.L.-C. The case was heard by a panel of Chief Judge Michael Chagares, Judge Arianna Freeman, and Judge Emil Bove. The Immigration Judge in the case was Joseph C. Scott of the Philadelphia Immigration Court.

Below, the IJ determined that the Petitioners' proposed social groups, relating to the Petitioners' alleged ability to assist law enforcement, where not cognizable. In the alternative, IJ Scott determined that even the PSGs were cognizable that the "Petitioners did not establish past persecution on account of membership in any of the proposed PSGs, as the gang members' threats were not sufficiently menacing or concrete to rise to persecution."

The Board of Immigration Appeals agreed with the IJ's "past-persecution ruling" and "declined to reach the cognizability of the PSGs." The Third Circuit pointed to Herrera-Reyes v. Att'y Gen., 952 F.3d 101, 110 (3rd Cir. 2020) for the proposition that to "show persecution based on threats, the threats must be so 'concrete and menacing' that they endanger the 'petitioner's life or liberty.'" And, even sinister and credible threats are not enough if they were "not highly imminent or concrete or failed to result in any physical violence or harm to the alien. Chavarria v. Gonzalez, 446 F.3d 508, 518 (3d Cir. 2006).

If you have an asylum case, then reading the various not precedential opinions on the Third Circuit's website will be informative for your case. Wrapping your head around some of the concepts in asylum law will help you better prepare for your day in court.