Facts:  T is a 30-year-old father of two who fled Guatemala to come to the U.S. with his wife and son after suffering multiple beatings at the hands of criminal gang members who threatened to kill him if he did not stop his youth ministry work. T's father was an Evangelical pastor for 24 years until his death in 2014. T's family identifies as Christian and many members are in church leadership throughout Guatemala. T became active in the church at age 24, shortly before his father's death. He began working with the church's youth and became a well-known member of the leadership team of the youth group. T was often seen encouraging young people to join the youth group, providing spiritual guidance and support to them, and proselytizing. In 2017, gangs from El Salvador came to his town and started causing trouble. Gang leaders recruited police officers and young people to join the gang. T began ministering to youth who were in the gangs, and who decided to leave gang life to join the church and lead a spiritual life. T offered religious classes, food, activities and other support to the young people in his community so that they wouldn’t have to rely on the gangs to survive. This angered the gangs because T was disrupting their recruitment and threatening their authority. All of the leaders of T's youth group were verbally harassed by gang members, but T was the only one who experienced stalking and physical violence. Throughout 2017 and 2018 T's family was targeted and he was threatened with death if he did not stop his youth ministry work. Gang members would also regularly flash their weapons at T and his family, further indicating that they would kill him and his family if he did not stop. Eventually, gang members began to stalk T's wife, M, which is when they decided to flee. T and his family are eligible for asylum based on past persecution and/or well-founded fear of future persecution based on T’s evangelical religious beliefs and youth ministry work, his membership in his father's family, and T's political opinion of being opposed to the gang’s authority. T needs a zealous pro bono attorney to help him fight his asylum case so that he and his family can remain safely together in the U.S.

Legal Assessment:  T and his family are eligible for asylum based on past persecution and/or well-founded fear of future persecution based on T’s evangelical religious beliefs and youth ministry work, his membership in his father's family, and T's political opinion of being opposed to the gang’s authority. T needs a zealous pro bono attorney to help him fight his asylum case so that he and his family can remain safely together in the U.S.

T speaks Spanish.