Rueda-Menicucci

Petitioners seek attorney’s fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, (“EAJA”), 28 U.S.C. § 2412 (d), following our remand of their asylum and withholding: of deportation claims to the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”). 1 The request requires us to determine whether the Supreme Court’s holding regarding EAJA prevailing party status in Shalala v. Schaefer, 509 U.S. 292, 300-02 , 113 S.Ct. 2625, 2680-32 , 125 L.Ed.2d 239 (1993), effectively overrules our decisions in Escobar Ruiz v. INS, 787 F.2d 1294, 1297-98 (9th Cir.1986), aff'd en banc, 838 F.2d 1020, 1029 (9th Cir.1988), and Beltran-Zavala v. INS, 912 F.2d 1027, 1032 (9th Cir.1990). We hold that Schaefer overrules Escobar Ruiz and Beltran-Zavala , and that petitioners are entitled to attorney’s fees under the EAJA.

A. BACKGROUND

Rueda-Menicucci, a native and citizen of Nicaragua, testified at his deportation hearing that he was arrested, severely beaten and interrogated by agents of the Somoza regime during a 15-day detention in 1978, on account of his political activities in support of the Social Christian Party. In 1979, Rueda-Menicucci was shot by a member of the Somoza military. In 1981, Sandinista officials arrested…