Matter of Jean

Melanie Beaucejour Jean (plaintiff) was a native of Haiti who was granted refugee status along with her husband and five children. Jean’s husband had been involved in an opposition political party in Haiti in the 1990s, and he was nearly killed. Soldiers killed the father and two cousins of Jean’s husband and burned Jean’s home and those of various relatives. However, over the years, the opposition party to which Jean’s husband belonged held most essential positions in government, including law-enforcement agencies. In addition, the former opposition party kept control of Haiti’s senate via the elections of 2000. Jean had been in the United States for less than a year and had not adjusted to permanent-resident status when she was convicted of second-degree manslaughter, a crime that involves moral turpitude. Jean admitted to beating and shaking to death a 19-month-old baby who was entrusted to her care. After Jean’s four-year incarceration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service initiated removal proceedings. An immigration judge granted Jean no relief. However, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reversed and granted Jean status as a lawful permanent resident. Jean acknowledged that her conviction made her inadmissible and unable to adjust to permanent-resident status, but she sought a waiver from the attorney general. In addition, Jean sought asylum and withholding of removal, asserting a fear of future persecution based mainly on the events that her husband had previously experienced in Haiti prior to the change in the country's conditions.