Navigating the "Series of Rocks": Applying the Lessons from the Material Support Bar to Include Duress, De Minimis, and Age of Consent Exceptions to the Persecutor Bar

This Article argues that the BIA, in solving the persecutor bar problem assigned by the Supreme Court, should learn from the controversy over the material support bar. Like the material support bar, the persecutor bar is a well-intentioned restriction to exclude those individuals who do not deserve asylum relief. Like the material support bar, the persecutor failed to include an explicit duress or de minimis exception. Therefore, like the material support bar, the persecutor bar should allow for both duress and de minimis exceptions even though there is no explicit mention of those defenses in the statute.

Part II of this Article reviews the jurisprudential history behind the persecutor bar. Part III analyzes how Congress had to intervene to ensure that the material support bar to asylum included duress and de minimis exceptions. Part IV then applies the lessons from the material support bar and argues for a duress and de minimis exception to the persecutor bar. Part V addresses the appropriate procedure for deciding whether to apply a duress or de minimis exception.