Around the world women often suffer persecution just because they are female, and experience persecution differently because they are women. Women who are beaten by their husbands, raped with impunity, forcibly sterilized, ritually mutilated, sold into sexual slavery and targeted for death by relatives in the name of family honor can become refugees when their governments fail to protect them. Some of them flee to the United States in search of safety.
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Latest News
Rodi Alvarado finally granted asylum, ending her fourteen year legal battle
On December 16, 2009 – fourteen years after fleeing her home country of Guatemala, where she suffered a decade of brutal domestic violence – Rodi Alvarado’s legal battle finally concluded when an immigration judge granted her asylum. Human Rights First is relieved that Ms. Alvarado’s legal struggle has been resolved but continues to urge U.S. policymakers to promulgate regulations or pass legislation clarifying aspects of the “social group” basis for asylum so that other women who have suffered brutal persecution are not denied refugee protection in the United States—or forced to wait for years to have their cases resolved.
Click here to read more about Ms. Alvarado and the plight of women fleeing domestic violence and seeking asylum in the United States.
U.S. Makes Progress in Resolving Leading Asylum Case for Survivor of Domestic Violence
In an immigration court filing in late October 2009, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made clear that the Department agrees that Rodi Alvarado merits a grant of asylum in the United States. Ms. Alvarado suffered brutal domestic violence for over a decade in her home country of Guatemala, receiving no protection from the police and courts when she repeatedly asked for help. Over the past 14 years, while her case has been in litigation, Ms. Alvarado’s struggle prompted concern from a diverse coalition of organizations and a bi-partisan group of over 100 Members of Congress who were concerned that a denial of asylum in her case would limit the ability of women fleeing from domestic violence, honor killings and other gender-based violence to receive asylum in the United States. Human Rights First welcomes this positive development in Ms. Alvarado’s case but also urges U.S. policymakers to advance regulations or legislation clarifying aspects of the “social group” basis for asylum.
Click here to read more about Ms. Alvarado.
Congressional Briefing Examines Protection of Women and Children Fleeing Persecution
On September 30, 2009 Human Rights First joined the Tahirih Justice Center, the Women’s Refugee Commission, and award-winning actor Sam Waterson to educate members of Congress and their staff on U.S. policies and practices impacting access to asylum protection for women and children fleeing persecution. The briefing provided a critical assessment of the state of U.S. policy towards women and girls fleeing gender-based persecution and how some of those policies are preventing these asylum seekers from finding the protection they need and deserve. The briefing occurred in conjunction with the release of a new report by the Tahirih Justice Center entitled, Precarious Protection: How Unsettled Policy and Current Laws Harm Women and Girls Fleeing Persecution.
Read an article in the Washington Post from October 1st, 2009 entitled, “Clearer Rules Urged For Asylum Seekers System Fails to Protect Women, Study Says.”
DHS Files a Promising Brief in an Asylum Case Based on Domestic Violence and Persecution
In a recent brief filed by the Office of the General Counsel and the Office of the Principle Legal Advisor at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the case of Matter of L-R-, DHS offers two formulations for the applicant’s potential eligibility for asylum on the basis of membership in a particular social group: i) “Mexican women in domestic relationships who are unable to leave” and ii) “Mexican women who are viewed as property by virtue of their positions within a domestic relationship.” This brief sends a strong signal to ICE Trial Attorneys, USCIS Asylum Officers and others within DHS that the Department officially recognizes these cases can merit a grant of asylum, if all the requirements for asylum eligibility are satisfied.
Read the DHS brief. (07/2009)
BIA issues decision in Matter of A-T
The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued an interim decision in Matter of A-T, 25 I&N Dec. 1 (A.G. 2009), a case addressing eligibility for asylum or withholding of removal based on past persecution related to female genital mutilation and the applicability of the exceptions to the one year filing deadline for asylum. In this decision, the BIA held that the applicant was time barred from asylum but remanded the case to the Immigration Judge for additional fact finding on her eligibility for withholding of removal.
Read the BIA’s decision in Matter of A-T. (07/2009)
Attorney General Remands Case of Victim of Domestic Violence to the Board of Immigration Appeals
Twelve years ago an immigration judge in San Francisco granted asylum to Rodi Alvarado, a Guatemalan woman who survived brutal domestic violence at the hands of her husband for over a decade. Ms. Alvarado repeatedly sought help from the police and courts but the Guatemalan government failed to protect her. In an effort to find safety, Ms. Alvarado fled Guatemala and sought asylum in the U.S. After twelve years, her asylum case remains unresolved due to government appeals, procedural complications, and the lack of regulations on gender-based asylum. For the last seven years Ms. Alvarado’s case has been on hold in the office of the Attorney General. However, on September 25, 2008, Attorney General Mukasey made an unexpected decision and remanded her case for reconsideration by the Board of Immigration Appeals where her case is now pending in Matter of R-A-, 24 I&N Dec. 629 (A.G. 2008). The results of a decision in Matter of R-A- may have a great impact on the future of asylum claims based on domestic violence, particularly in the absence of regulations related to gender-based asylum claims.
Read the decision (10/2008)
Click here to read more about Ms. Alvarado.
BIA Ruling in FGM Case Vacated
September 2008 – Attorney General Mukasey vacated a 2007 decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals in which it held that a Malian woman who had previously been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM) was not eligible for withholding of removal because FGM is a “one-time” act of persecution that cannot be repeated on the same woman. In his decision, the Attorney General noted that the BIA’s ruling was incorrect as a matter of fact and as a matter of law. The case was remanded to the BIA for a decision consistent with the Attorney General’s opinion.
Click here to read the decision, Matter of A-T-, 24 I&N Dec. 617 (A.G. 2008).
Ms. Alvarado’s fate now rests with the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security, which are expected to issue rules to cover such claims
January 2005 – Rodi Alvarado is a Guatemalan woman who survived brutal domestic violence at the hands of her husband for over a decade, receiving no protection from the police and courts when she repeatedly asked for help. Ms. Alvarado fled to the United States seeking safety.
Attorney General John Ashcroft made the decision not to deny Ms. Alvarado’s landmark asylum case, instead sending the case back to the administrative Board of Immigration Appeals. The order, issued on January 19, 2005, was announced on January 21. In February 2004, the Department of Homeland Security recommended that the Attorney General grant Ms. Alvarado asylum after he had “re-certified” the case early in 2003. A diverse coalition of organizations and a bi-partisan group of over 100 Members of Congress feared that a denial of Ms. Alvarado’s asylum claim would limit the ability of women who flee from domestic violence, honor killings and other gender-based violence to receive asylum in the United States.
Read Attorney General Ashcroft’s decision (1/19/05)
Human Rights First Press statement on the landmark gender asylum case (1/21/05)
Human Rights First commentary on case in the Washington Post (10/8/04)
Timeline: Asylum from Gender Persecution 1996 – 2004
Women and Asylum – Background
Around the world women often suffer persecution just because they are female, and experience persecution differently because they are women. Women who are beaten by their husbands, raped with impunity, forcibly sterilized, ritually mutilated, sold into sexual slavery and targeted for death by relatives in the name of family honor can become refugees when their governments fail to protect them. Some of them flee to the United States in search of safety.
The United States has for many years had a proud tradition of protecting refugees, and has set an example for other countries in
protecting women from gender-related violence. But the ability of refugee women to gain asylum in the U.S. was significantly undermined by a 1996
immigration law called the “Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.” That law created new barriers for asylum seekers which have affected thousands of refugee women. A woman from the Dominican Republic who fled severe domestic violence was ordered deported under the Act’s summary expedited removal process. A rape survivor from Albania was deported to her country of persecution under the same process. Women who have fled forced marriage, rape, forced sterilization, domestic violence, and other gender-related violence have been detained in jails – sometimes for lengthy periods of time, without the opportunity to challenge their detention before a judge. Other women who sought asylum based on fears of “honor killings” and genital mutilation have had their asylum claims rejected based on the one-year filing deadline.
Human Rights First continues to call upon the U.S. government to restore fairness to the asylum process so that vulnerable women refugees who have already endured severe persecution are not unfairly denied a safe haven in this country.
Human Rights First report “Refugee Women at Risk” tells the stories of refugee women seeking asylum in the U.S. Click here to read the full report.