A-B

Syllabus

(1) Matter of A-B-, 27 I&N Dec. 316 (A.G. 2018), did not alter the existing standard for determining whether a government is \unwilling or unable\ to prevent persecution by non-governmental actors. The \complete helplessness\ language used in Matter of A-B- is consistent with the longstanding \unable or unwilling\ standard, as the two are interchangeable formulations. (2) The concept of \persecution\ under the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. §§ 1101(a)(42)(A), 1158(b)(1)(a), (b)(i), is premised on a breach of a home country's duty to protect its citizens. In cases where an asylum applicant is the victim of violence or threats by non-governmental actors, and the applicant's home government has made efforts to prevent such violence or threats, failures in particular cases or high levels of crime do not establish a breach of the government's duty to protect its citizenry. (3) The two-pronged test articulated by the Board of Immigration Appeals in Matter of L-E-A-, 27 I&N Dec. 40, 43–44 (BIA 2017), is the proper approach for determining whether a protected ground is \at least one central reason\ for an asylum applicant's persecution, 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(i). Under this test, the protected ground: (1) must be a but-for cause of the wrongdoer's act and (2) must play more than a minor role—in other words, it cannot be incidental or tangential to another reason for the act.