In re C-A-

C-A- entered the United States from Colombia, and the United States government (plaintiff) initiated deportation proceedings before an immigration judge (IJ). At the deportation hearing, C-A- testified that he lived in Cali, Colombia, the headquarters for the Cali drug cartel. C-A- testified that he was an acquaintance of A-D-, a police officer who later joined the Cali cartel, and V-M-M-, the prosecutor responsible for investigating drug traffickers in Cali. C-A- testified that he learned information about the Cali cartel from A-D- and passed the information to V-M-M- out of a sense of civic duties. C-A- testified that members of the Cali cartel then started threatening and physically harassing C-A-. C-A- testified that members of the Cali cartel started looking for him, causing C-A- to flee for the United States. The IJ found C-A testified credibly but concluded C-A- failed to establish past persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution if he returned to Colombia. C-A- appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), arguing he had a well-founded fear of persecution based on a political opinion imputed to him by the cartel and membership in a particular social group composed of noncriminal informants. The BIA affirmed the IJ decision, and C-A- appealed to the Eleventh Circuit. The Eleventh Circuit affirmed that C-A- failed to demonstrate persecution on the basis of his political beliefs. The Eleventh Circuit remanded to the Board of Immigration Appeals to determine whether noncriminal informants are a particular social group.