Michelle Thomas David George Thomas Tyneal Michelle Thomas Shaldon Waide Thomas v. Alberto R. Gonzales, Attorney General

WARDLAW, Circuit Judge:

Michelle, David, Shaldon, and Tyneal Thomas, natives and citizens of South Africa, appeal the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”), summarily affirming the Immigration Judge’s (“IJ’s”) denial of their application for asylum and withholding of removal.

We review this case en banc to reconcile our intracireuit conflict on the question of whether a family may constitute a “particular social group” for the purposes of 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)(A). We hold that family membership may constitute membership in a “particular social group,” and thus confer refugee…