Mayer Brown litigators from Washington, D.C. have secured an order from the Baltimore Immigration Court withholding the removal of the firm’s pro bono client (“Mr. X”), a political refugee from Honduras. Mr. X was an operative of the minority LIBRE political party in a volatile region of the country, where politics, police, and drug traffickers are all tightly integrated. During his years of political activism, Mr. X saw over two dozen of his friends and family members tortured and killed, sometimes by the very police forces charged with protecting them. When Mr. X challenged certain regional politicians and the system of patronage they used to dominate local life, armed men repeatedly threatened to assassinate him too. Mr. X ultimately fled to the United States with his pre-school aged son, joining his wife and other son, who had fled after earlier threats.
At the hearing, Mr. X testified powerfully regarding the violence in Honduras and the political persecution he suffered there. At closing arguments, the Department of Homeland Security conceded that it had no basis for opposing Mr. X’s application and orally waived its right to appeal. Mr. X’s wife and two young children were present when the court ordered that their father would not be deported back to Honduras.
The Mayer Brown team included D.C. associates Jonathan Weinberg and Clark Bakewell, as well as international associate Pablo Morales. Mayer Brown partner Adam Hudes supervised the matter, which was referred to the firm by the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition.
At the hearing, Mr. X testified powerfully regarding the violence in Honduras and the political persecution he suffered there. At closing arguments, the Department of Homeland Security conceded that it had no basis for opposing Mr. X’s application and orally waived its right to appeal. Mr. X’s wife and two young children were present when the court ordered that their father would not be deported back to Honduras.
The Mayer Brown team included D.C. associates Jonathan Weinberg and Clark Bakewell, as well as international associate Pablo Morales. Mayer Brown partner Adam Hudes supervised the matter, which was referred to the firm by the Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition.
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September 202023
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