Vixaysack

MEMORANDUM

Nouxay Vixaysack, a native and citizen of Laos, petitions for review of the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) affirming the decision of an immigration judge (IJ) to deny Vixaysack’s application for asylum, withholding of removal, and protection under the Convention Against Torture. Because the BIA ignored relevant information from the State Department’s profile of asylum claims for Laos, we grant the petition for review and remand to the BIA for further proceedings.

Vixaysack was born in Laos in 1956. During the Vietnam War, Vixaysack’s brother-in-law, Sourath Sihanat, worked for American CIA agents and reported movement of the Pathet Lao to American warplanes to assist in bombing campaigns. At that time, Vixaysack lived in the same house as his sister (Sihanat’s wife). Siha-nat and his wife eventually fled to the United States and are now U.S. citizens. Vixaysack, who was drafted into the Laotian military, deserted the military in 1988, in part because he believed that his coworkers suspected him of being a traitor because he received money from his sister in the United States.

After a year in hiding in Laos, Vixay-sack entered the United States in…