The plaintiff, Lhakpa Tsamcho, is a Tibetan woman who received asylum in the United States after she fled persecution in the People’s Republic of China.  USCIS approved the petitions to bring her husband and three children to the United States.  However, due to travel restrictions imposed on Tibetans by the Chinese government following unrest in March 2008, Tsamcho’s family members were unable to reach the U.S. consulate.  After they failed to appear for their interviews, USCIS reopened their approved cases and denied the petitions.

Thus, the same persecution against Tibetans that was the basis for USCIS’s grant of asylum to Tsamcho has now lead to USCIS’s refusal to allow Tsamcho’s relatives to join her in the United States.  

“Asylees affected by the [U.S.] government’s new policy have done everything required by law to reunite their families in the United States, yet they may now be permanently prevented from doing so,” said Jason Parkin, one of the NYLAG attorneys on the case.  “It makes no sense to tell an asylee that her relatives are eligible to join her in this country, only to later reverse that decision simply because they weren’t able to appear at an appointment or bring certain documents.”

The lawsuit challenges USCIS’s new asylee family reunification policy, charging the agency with acting in violation of its own regulations, taking actions that are arbitrary and capricious, and implementing a new policy without providing proper notice to the public.