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This newsletter is for people
interested in protecting asylum
-seekers and refugees in the United
States. HRF has been advocating
for refugees for two decades, and
helping thousands to obtain asylum
in the United States.Latest Issues
Urge Attorney General Ashcroft to Rule in Favor of Rodi Alvarado and Urge
Secretary Ridge to Ensure Protection of Refugee Women
On Thursday, February 19, 2004, briefs are due in the asylum case of Rodi
Alvarado, a survivor of severe domestic abuse from Guatemala. The case
is currently pending before Attorney General John Ashcroft, following
his decision to certify the case to himself for review. There is widespread
concern that the Attorney General intends to limit asylum for women who
flee from gender-based persecution. In addition to a brief filed by Ms.
Alvarado’s attorneys at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies
at UC Hastings School of Law, a brief will be filed by the U.S. Department
of Homeland Security, which took over the functions of the former Immigration
and Naturalization Service (INS) last year.
As detailed below, Attorney General Ashcroft may soon be ruling in Ms.
Alvarado’s case and the Department of Homeland Security will be
submitting its brief next week. So please take action now.
Diverse Groups Support Asylum Grant
On Friday, February 13, an amici curie brief will be filed,
in support of Ms. Alvarado’s asylum eligibility, on behalf of a
wide range of almost 100 human rights, women’s rights and faith
based organizations, as well as almost 100 law professors. That brief,
drafted by the Harvard Law School Immigration and Refugee Clinic at Greater
Boston Legal Services, urges the Attorney General to uphold the immigration
judge’s decision to grant Rodi Alvarado asylum and cites to established
principles of U.S. and international law. Human rights and humanitarian
organizations including Human Rights First, Amnesty International, Human
Rights Watch and the International Rescue Committee as well as faith based
groups including the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Presbyterian Church USA and World Relief
(the human service arm of the National Association of Evangelicals) have
signed on to the amicus brief.
A wide range of diverse organizations concerned with women’s issues
are also urging that the Attorney General rule in favor of Ms. Alvarado.
These groups include the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund, as well
as conservative groups like Concerned Women for America which urged Attorney
General Ashcroft in a letter supporting a grant of asylum to Ms. Alvarado
“[t]o give refuge to such a woman as this is exactly what our asylum
policy exists for, and to turn her away would be an act of pointless cruelty.”
Background
Rodi Alvarado’s immigration status has been in limbo since she fled
Guatemala in 1995 to escape repeated and severe domestic abuse. Although
an immigration judge granted her asylum after finding that her husband
had inflicted severe abuse and that she was unable to seek protection
from the Guatemalan government, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA)
reversed the immigration judge’s decision in 1999. Then Attorney
General Reno vacated the BIA decision to deny asylum to Ms. Alvarado and
the former INS issued proposed regulations clarifying that victims of
domestic violence and other gender-related persecution are eligible for
asylum. However, these proposed regulations never became final.
On March 19, 2003, the BIA notified Ms. Alvarado’s attorney’s
that the Attorney General had re-certified the case to himself. After
the case was recertified, Ms. Alvarado’s attorneys requested that
the Attorney General allow the parties to re-brief the case since a significant
amount of time had elapsed and there had been changes in the law since
the initial briefing. The Attorney General initially denied this request.
Many individuals and organizations urged that the Attorney General reverse
his decision and allow briefing. On November 4, 2003, 62 Members of Congress
sent a letter to the Attorney General urging him to grant Ms. Alvarado’s
attorney’s request and permit the parties to file new briefs. See
http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/asylum/Briefing_letter110403.pdf.
On December 9, 2003, the Attorney General reversed his position and allowed
the parties to file briefs.
At some point, after the briefs are submitted, the Attorney General will
rule on Ms. Alvarado’s case. His decision will also impact the ability
of other women who have suffered gender-based harms – like honor
killings, domestic violence, trafficking -- to receive asylum in the United
States.
The Department of Homeland Security, which has taken over INS functions,
may also be issuing final regulations relating to gender-based asylum.
It is not clear what role the Department of Justice will have in these
regulations, given that INS functions were transferred from the Department
of Justice to the Department of Homeland Security.
Write in to urge that the briefs submitted by the Department of Homeland
Security, the decision issued by the Attorney General and the regulations
ultimately issued all respect the right of women who have fled from gender-based
harms to receive asylum in the United States – and to urge that
the immigration judge’s decision to grant asylum to Rodi Alvarado
be upheld.
