( CNN ) -- An appeals court ruling has raised the possibility that Guatemalan women will be able to seek asylum in the United States because of the high rates of femicide in that country . A Guatemalan woman seeking asylum based on her belief that she would not be safe in her native country will have her case reviewed , the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday . Lesly Yajayra Perdomo , a native of Guatemala who entered the United States illegally as a teenager to join her mother in 1991 , was facing deporation in 2003 . She requested asylum `` because she feared persecution as a member of a particular social group consisting of women between the ages of fourteen and forty , '' according to the court document . In particular , Perdomo argued that women in Guatemala `` were murdered at a high rate with impunity . '' An immigration judge denied her claim , and the Board of Immigration Appeals upheld the decision . Monday 's ruling remands the case to the BIA for further proceedings . Perdomo , who lives in Reno , Nevada , and works as a Medicaid account executive at a medical facility there , is not assured asylum , but the decision gives her and countless other Guatemalan women the possibility of remaining in the United States . A key issue in the case is whether Guatemalan women are too broad of a group to be considered a protected `` particular social group '' eligible for asylum . That 's what the BIA decided when it upheld the immigration judge 's ruling , calling it `` merely a demographic division ... rather than a particular social group . '' The three-judge panel at the appeals court , however , found that the decision was `` inconsistent with its own precedent and this court 's case law . '' It is important to note that the appeals court stopped short of saying Perdomo deserved asylum , only saying that she was eligible for it , Kevin Johnson , Dean of the University of California-Davis Law School , told CNN . Proving that Perdomo will face persecution if she is returned to Guatemala and that the country does n't protect its young women will be hard to prove , he said . Any other Guatemalan women hoping to take advantage of this week 's ruling will have to do the same . `` I do n't think there 's going to be a flood of Guatemalan women applying for asylum tomorrow , '' Johnson said . `` This is part of a trend among U.S. courts to ensure women are afforded protection under asylum laws . '' According to Amnesty International , between 2001 and 2006 , more than 1,900 Guatemalan women and girls were killed . Many of those killings involved sexual violence and `` exceptional cruelty , '' the organization said .
An appeals court remanded the case of a Guatemalan woman seeking asylum in the U.S. Perdomo argues that because of high murder rates for women , she is not safe going home . Ruling could affect other Guatemalan women in the United States . Score: 6