At an April 2015 hearing in the Hartford Immigration Court, Kyle Raleigh ’15 and Rosendo Garza ’15 won asylum for M—, a 28 year-old transgender woman from Honduras. Throughout childhood, M—, who was born seemingly male, faced severe physical and emotional abuse for behaving “like a girl.” At age 17 M— fled to the U.S and moved in with an aunt in Connecticut. When the aunt discovered M— dressing in woman’s clothing, she kicked M— out of the house and informed M—’s father, who threatened to kill her should she ever return to Honduras. Over the next several years, M—came to understand her identity, began living openly as a woman, and started a physical transition. When she came the Clinic for legal help, Rosendo and Kyle had to overcome multiple hurdles. They first had to convince an immigration judge in Texas to reopen a prior removal order and have the case transferred to Hartford for a new hearing. Ordinarily, an asylum application must be filed within a year after entering the U.S., so Kyle and Rosendo also had to prove the existence of changed or extraordinary circumstances to excuse the late filing. They did this through evidence that M—arrived as a minor, had only gradually and recently come to terms with her gender identity, and could not reasonably have been expected to seek asylum earlier. Finally, they needed to show that M—’s story of past persecution was true, and that as a transgender woman she would currently face persecution in Honduras, without effective government protection. Through a compelling direct examination of their client, expert testimony, and legal arguments, they persuaded the immigration judge, who issued an oral decision granting asylum at the conclusion of the hearing.