Guatamalan's Pleas for Immigration Mercy Rebuffed

Vicente-Elias v. Mukasey, 2008 WL 2699399 (7/11/08) (Published) - The 10th defers to the immigration judge's determination that the economic hardships suffered by the indigenous people of Guatemala due to the refusal of Spanish-speaking Guatemalans to hire people who speak only indigenous languages did not amount to a threat to the alien's life or freedom. Employment discrimination, even when it results in the inability to afford education, food, etc., is not enough. The 10th also rejected the substantive due process argument that "the massacres of the Mayans in Guatemala in the 1980's sponsored by the United States shocks the conscience and therefore warrants equitable relief."