Reason Enough: The Wrongful Extension of Asylum’s “One Central Reason” Nexus Standard to Withholding of Removal

Authors

• Elaine Hernandez Flores, University of Washington School of Law

Abstract

Noncitizens often come to the United States seeking protection from violence, persecution, or life-threatening conditions in their home countries. However, upon arrival, many noncitizens are placed in removal proceedings and face deportation back to the very dangers they escaped. U.S. immigration law provides various forms of relief from deportation, most notably asylum and withholding of removal. Both forms require the applicant to show a connection—or “nexus”—between the persecutor’s motive for persecuting them and one of five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

Although asylum and withholding of removal both require a noncitizen to prove a nexus between the persecutor’s motive and one of the five protected grounds, these forms of relief are distinct legal remedies with different standards. In 2005, Congress passed the REAL ID Act, which amended the nexus standard for asylum. This amendment heightened the nexus requirement, specifying that a protected ground be “one central reason” for the applicant’s persecution. In contrast, withholding of removal only requires that a protected ground be “a reason” for the persecution. Despite this difference, the Board of Immigration Appeals and some circuit courts have interpreted the stricter asylum nexus standard as applying to both types of relief. The resulting inconsistency among the federal courts has raised a key question: Should the heightened asylum standard of “one central reason” also apply to withholding of removal?

This Comment contends that the nexus standards for asylum and withholding of removal are distinct, and courts should not apply the “one central reason” nexus test to both statutes. By examining the asylum statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1158(b)(1)(B)(i), the withholding of removal statute, 8 U.S.C. § 1231(b)(3)(C), the legislative history behind the REAL ID Act, and relevant case law, this Comment concludes that the language in the withholding of removal statute reflects a deliberately lower standard and should remain separate from asylum’s heightened requirement.

First Page

297

Recommended Citation

Elaine H. Flores, Comment, Reason Enough: The Wrongful Extension of Asylum’s “One Central Reason” Nexus Standard to Withholding of Removal, 101 Wash. L. Rev. 297 (2026).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wlr/vol101/iss1/9