Applications for asylum & withholding of removal under the Immigration & Nationality Act (8 USC §§ 1158 & 1231(b)(3)); Finding that there was no “nexus” between the harm to petitioners & their family membership; Sebastian-Sebastian v Garland; Whether petitioners’ due process claim was “unexhausted”; Whether their argument about a particular social group (PSG) of “Guatemalan female children without parental protection” was reviewable; Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)

In this amended opinion (see eJournal # 82359 in the 10/4/24 edition for the original opinion), the court again held that the BIA’s determination there was no nexus between the harm to petitioners and their family membership was inconsistent with the court’s precedent, which does not require asylum applicants to prove “animus” to satisfy the nexus requirement. But petitioners’ arguments as to due process and their proposed PSG of “Guatemalan female children without parental protection” were unreviewable where they were not raised before the BIA. In the amended opinion, the court removed one sentence and a case citation and made a minor word change. Its holding and rationale were unchanged.