EndocrinologyNew Obama Administration Policy To Allow U.S. Asylum For Abused Foreign Women
A recent Obama administration legal filing clears the way for foreign women who have experienced severe domestic beatings and sexual abuse to receive asylum in the U.S., the New York Times reports. The administration stated its position in an April immigration appeals court filing involving a Mexican woman, identified only by her initials, who is seeking asylum in the U.S. because of fear that her abusive common-law husband would kill her. The Times reports that the woman recently consented to having her confidential case documents disclosed to the newspaper.The filing reverses the government"s stance under former President George W. Bush. According to the Times, lawyers say that the Obama administration "has marked a clear, although narrow, pathway for battered women seeking asylum, ... after 13 years of tangled court arguments." Bush administration lawyers had argued as recently as last year that the Mexican woman and others like her could not meet the standards of U.S. asylum law, the Times reports. Applicants for U.S. asylums or refugee status must show a "well-founded fear of persecution" because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or "membership in a particular social group." The legal debate has been whether women can be included under those terms. According to the Obama administration"s court filing, foreign women who experience abuse would have to prove that their abusers treat them as subordinates and little better than property. They would also have to show that abuse is widely accepted in their country. In addition, they would need to demonstrate that they are unable to find protections from their countries" institutions or by moving somewhere else in their country. The policy does not apply to women fleeing genital mutilation, the Times reports. The Department of Homeland Security has not recommended asylum for the woman. However, DHS senior lawyers wrote in the filing that "it is possible" for her "and other applicants who have experienced domestic violence could qualify for asylum."Under the Clinton administration, Attorney General Janet Reno proposed regulations to clarify the asylum law, but they have never taken effect. DHS lawyers in 2004 raised the possibility of asylum for domestic violence victims, but it was never put into practice in immigration court, according to Karen Musalo, director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. "This really opens the door to the protection of women who have suffered these kinds of violations," Musalo said. DHS officials said they now are returning to the 2004 position of stipulating conditions narrow enough to allow domestic violence victims to gain asylum in only a limited number of cases. Matt Chandler, a DHS spokesperson, said, "Although each case is highly fact-dependent and requires scrutiny of the specific threat an applicant faces, the department continues to view domestic violence as a possible basis for asylum in the United States" (Preston, New York Times, 7/16).
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