Matter of Acosta
Board of Immigration Appeals
19 I.& N. Dec. 211 (1985)
Acosta (plaintiff), a Salvadoran taxi-collective worker repeatedly threatened by guerillas seeking to disrupt San Salvador's transportation service, fled after friends and colleagues in the business were beaten or killed; found deportable in the United States, he applied for discretionary asylum and withholding of deportation, but the immigration judge denied both for failure to meet his burden of proof, and he appealed.
Whether, to qualify as a refugee, an alien must satisfy four separate elements: (1) a fear of persecution, (2) that is well-founded, (3) on account of a protected ground including membership in a particular social group, and (4) rendering the alien unable or unwilling to return to his country.