Central American and Mexican Claims

UNHCR has long recognized the protection needs of individuals fleeing threats or harm by gangs and other organized criminal groups in various parts of the world, including Central America and Mexico, and it has concluded that, depending on the circumstances, survivors of such violence may be considered in need of international protection. Over the years, an increasing number of individuals at risk of or who have suffered violence by organized criminal groups in Central America and Mexico have fled to the United States in search of safety. UNHCR works to understand and address these protection needs, and it has conducted studies examining this issue and published guidance on these types of claims.

UNHCR offers the following summary of its position on this topic as relevant to pursuing asylum in the United States:

• UNHCR’s Views on Asylum Claims from Individuals Fleeing Violence by Gangs and Other Organized Criminal Groups in Central America and Mexico (2022)

Key UNHCR Resources

For a discussion of UNHCR’s views on the legal analysis of gang-related asylum claims, including in the U.S. context, see:

• Guidance Note on Refugee Claims Relating to Victims of Organized Gangs (2010) 
• Comments on the Proposed Rules from the U.S. Dept. of Justice and Dept. of Homeland Sec., “Procedures for Asylum and Withholding of Removal; Credible Fear and Reasonable Fear Review” (2020) 
• Amicus Brief, Marroquin-Perez v. Barr (2020)
• Amicus Brief, Matter of O.L.B.D. (2019) 
• Amicus Brief, Grace v. Barr (2019)

For more detailed analysis of the situation in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras and an assessment of the potential international protection needs of asylum seekers from those countries, see:

• Children on the Run: Unaccompanied Children Leaving Central America and Mexico and the Need for International Protection (2014)
• Uprooted (Arrancados de Raíz) (2014) 
• Women on the Run: First-Hand Accounts of Refugees Fleeing El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico (2015)  
• Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum Seekers from El Salvador (2016) 
• Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum Seekers from Honduras (2016) 
• Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Asylum Seekers from Guatemala (2018) 

Additional Materials

• Refworld: Gang-Related Violence
• Webinar by UNHCR & Maggio Kattar Nahajzer & Alexander P.C.: Representing Asylum-Seekers from Central America: Leveraging International Law to Strengthen Gang-Based Asylum Claims (2017) (recording)