Marco Rendon

Client:	Marco Rendon (National Immigrant Justice Center)
Representation:	Pro Bono Immigration Litigation
Date:	May 2006
Locations:	U.S. Immigration Court – Chicago, Illinois

Summary:

U.S. asylum granted to immigrant threatened by a violent paramilitary group in his native country, Colombia.

Our client, Marco Rendon, joined a peaceful liberal political party near Cali in 1997 and served as a volunteer community leader, where he assisted the poor, helped the city counsel determine how to best allocate its limited funds, and performed other services. In 2003, one of Colombia's right-wing paramilitary groups, the AUC, began to harass and threaten him with harm if he did not campaign for the AUC. The AUC is an exceptionally violent group whose members have historically resorted to kidnappings, torture, and murder to coerce citizens into joining with them. Mr. Rendon consistently refused their requests, and the threats and intimidation escalated. Although he filed a police report, the police informed him that they had more important people to tend to. After two men directly threatened his life if he did not cooperate, he fled to the United States out of fear for his life.

In 2004, Schiff Hardin filed an affirmative 1-598 application for asylum on behalf of Mr. Rendon, after receiving a pro bono referral of his case from the Midwest Immigrant and Human Rights Center. The U.S. Government denied the affirmative application on the grounds that Mr. Rendon had not suffered past persecution and, the Government contended, had no fear of future persecution because he could relocate within Colombia. The matter was referred to the U.S. Immigration Court for resolution. On May 11, 2006, Mr. Rendon’s case was tried successfully to the court, which, after extensive questioning, found Mr. Rendon and his wife to be credible and entitled to asylum.

The immigration court focused on two key issues. The first was whether Mr. Rendon continued to face harm sufficient to warrant asylum in view of the Colombian government's very recent announcement, in mid-April 2006, that the AUC was completely demobilized and its members had relinquished their arms. The judge needed to be convinced that a viable threat to Mr. Rendon's life still existed three years after he had left Colombia, despite this announcement and despite his ability to relocate within his country.

The second issue concerned whether asylum was appropriate if the threat to Mr. Rendon did not come within into one of the enumerated groups identified by the statute. The tide turned when the Schiff Hardin team convinced the judge that unfavorable Seventh Circuit case law concerning persecution in Colombia by paramilitary/guerrilla groups was distinguishable. After expressing frustration at the Government's arguments, the judge held that although the threats to Mr. Rendon had not risen to the level of past persecution, Mr. Rendon did face a legitimate fear of future persecution if returned to Colombia. The court further ruled that Mr. Rendon's role as a community leader in a political organization was sufficient to bring him under the protection of the asylum statute.

In the Matter of Marco J. Rendon, Case no. A-98-158-883, U.S. Immigration Court – Chicago, Ill. (2006)