Asserting a political persecution claim is not always a safe bet for a litigant who wants to win asylum before a United States immigration court. However, having a pro bono lawyer like Cam Barker who properly frames that argument increases the odds, as Khagendra Sharma recently found out.

The background to Sharma's claim, according to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal's Aug. 26 decision in Khagendra Sharma v. Eric H. Holder, is as follows.