In a hair-raising escape from the tentacles of Mexican cartel violence, Eric Blancas Hermosillo, who claims to be hunted due to his family’s spirited anti-cartel activism, has presented sufficient evidence for an immigration judge to scrutinize his protection plea. A split Ninth Circuit, with a 2-1 ruling, nodded in favor.
Blancas Hermosillo recounted a haunting narrative of how drug cartels ruthlessly assassinated his uncles, turning them into chilling warnings, aimed at silencing another uncle at the helm of a local defense entity called Autodefensa. Such a narrative, the panel implied, wasn’t something to be brushed under the rug during preliminary screenings.
“Blancas Hermosillo’s testimony is akin to the trailer of a suspense movie: a compelling premise that cartels have Autodefensa affiliates in their crosshairs, strengthened by personal accounts, with an undercurrent suggesting there’s more to it,” Circuit Judge Jennifer Sung penned for the majority.
A Labyrinth of Legal Procedures and Proof
The panel majority, while acknowledging the gravity of Blancas Hermosillo’s claims, emphasized that the real trial was yet to come. In court, a mountain of concrete evidence awaits him – from expert testimonies to media exposures on country conditions.
