Women

# Asylum Seekers# BIA

Female Asylum Seekers Need Not Apply

A new decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) seeks to restrict the ability of women to obtain asylum on account of gender-based harm. See Matter of K-E-S-G-, 29 I&N Dec. 145 (BIA 2025) (holding that “Salvadoran women” and “Salvadoran women viewed as property” were not viable particular social groups). This is just one in a series of recent decisions by the BIA to limit asylum and restrict other types of immigration benefits.

Among these decisions, Matter of K-E-S-G- stands out for its broad reach and because it potentially closes the door to protection for many vulnerable women (and some vulnerable men). At the same time, Matter of K-E-S-G- is not a particularly surprising decision, given that the BIA and the federal courts have long struggled with providing protection (or not) to victims of gender-based violence. 

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By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# Legal Relief

Forced Abortion and Forced Sterilization as Grounds for Asylum

In reaction to the government of China’s one-child policy, Congress amended the asylum law in 1996 so that “a person who has been forced to abort a pregnancy or to undergo involuntary sterilization, or who has been persecuted for failure or refusal to undergo such a procedure or for other resistance to a coercive population control program, shall be deemed to have been persecuted on account of political opinion, and a person who has a well founded fear that he or she will be forced to undergo such a procedure or subject to persecution for such failure, refusal, or resistance shall be deemed to have a well founded fear of persecution on account of political opinion.” In other words, a person who is or could be subject to a forced abortion or forced sterilization may be eligible for asylum in the United States.

While this law was created with China in mind, there is no requirement that asylum seekers fear persecution in that nation. Indeed, over the years, advocates (including yours truly) have tried to use this law to obtain protection for people from many different countries. A recent article by Karla Colley in the Columbia Human Rights Law Review sets forth the arguments for an expansive use of the forced abortion-forced sterilization basis for asylum. Due to the prevalence of these practices around the world, Ms. Colley concludes that “attorneys and physicians need to screen all female clients for involuntary sterilization during the intake process and the forensic medical evaluation.” I think she is exactly right. Women who have been victims of forced abortion or forced sterilization can use that as a basis for an asylum claim, and as advocates, we have a responsibility to pursue all avenues of relief for our clients.

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By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# Get Involved

Celebrate Mother’s Day by Helping Asylum-Seeker Moms

Mother’s Day is coming up – on May 9, 2021. If you need a nice gift idea for the mother(s) in your life, and you’d like to support a worthy cause at the same time, check out this “gift of goodness” from AsylumWorks, a Washington, DC-area non-profit that provides support for asylum seekers while they wait for resolution of their cases.

AsylumWorks offers a host of services to asylum seekers (whether they are mothers or not), including help with employment, referrals for social services, legal assistance, trauma recovery, and housing and food needs. The organization also helps connect asylum seekers to the wider community and to each other. Through their Mother’s Day Campaign (which ends on April 30), you can send a tin of alfajores, delicious sandwich cookies filled with dulce de leche and rolled in coconut flakes to a mother in your life, or to an asylum-seeking mom.

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By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers

The Attorney General’s Not-as-Bad-as-We-Feared Decision on Asylum

We knew this was coming. On March 7, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced plans to revisit a Board of Immigration Appeals (“BIA”) case called Matter of A-B-, 27 I&N Dec. 227 (BIA 2018), which granted asylum to a victim of domestic violence from El Salvador. Now, the Attorney General has reversed A-B- and issued a … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum# Asylum Seekers# Legal# Published Decisions

One Giant Leap for a Woman; One Small Step for Womankind

In a recent decision, Matter of A-R-C-G-, 26 I&N Dec. 388 (BIA 2014), the BIA held that “married women in Guatemala who are unable to leave their relationship” can constitute a cognizable particular social group (“PSG”) for purposes of asylum. The decision is significant because it marks the first time that the Board has published … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# Immigration

Senators Try to Help Women Immigrants, But Ignore Women Asylum Seekers

A proposed amendment to the Senate Immigration Bill would reserve 30,000 green cards for people in jobs traditionally held by women, such as nannies, home health-care workers, and early childhood educators. The amendment is sponsored by 12 of the 20 women in the U.S. Senate. According to the Washington Post, the “lawmakers say pending immigration legislation … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# International

Female Asylum Seekers Need Not Apply

In 2010, the United Kingdom created an “Action Plan” and committed to “make the asylum system as gender-sensitive as possible so that women and girls who have been persecuted through violence and/or discrimination can have every opportunity to make their case and to have their asylum application considered as fairly as possible.”  Now, a new … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# Legal Relief

Do Women Face Discrimination in the Asylum System?

A recent posting on the blog Women and Foreign Policy by Carol Bohmer and Amy Shuman argues that “cultural, social and political attitudes and expectations can affect how a woman’s claim for asylum is evaluated by the authorities” and that such claims are treated “differently” and “less well” by those asylum authorities: Most of the ways … Read more

By Jason Dzubow