New US asylum rules leave abuse survivors 'always afraid' (the WAR ON WOMEN continues apace)
New US asylum rules leave abuse survivors 'always afraid' (the WAR ON WOMEN continues apace)
FUCK THE DAMNED WOMAN-HATERS IN THIS TREASONOUS MALADMINISTRATION
Survivors and advocates warn decision to stop granting asylum to domestic violence survivors will lead to more deaths.
Women in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras reported being raped, assaulted, extorted and threatened by gangs and drug cartels to the UN Refugee Agency in 2015 [Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters]
Yasmin Montes knew what the loud pounding on the door of her home in Potrerillos, Honduras meant. Caught up in a relationship with a gang member, the young mother of one, suffered regular beatings by her boyfriend for more than three years. During one of his most violent visits in 2014, he threatened to take their child away. That is when Montes, who was 21 years old at the time, became fed up. She packed her bags and headed for the US-Mexico border with her one-year-old daughter in hand. The two spent days in a cold detention centre, before being released, and eventually obtaining asylum on domestic violence grounds.
That was in 2017. Had her paperwork taken a year longer, Montes fears she may have been denied asylum and forced back to the violence she had escaped years earlier. "It's the best thing that could have happened to me because I feel safe in this country," she told Al Jazeera by phone. Now, though, after a decision by US Attorney General Jeff Session in June that makes it harder for domestic abuse survivors to apply for asylum, Montes worries about other women in Central America that come to the US to seek reprieve from violence.
"I know the decision is going to cost them," Montes said. "I pray that other women win their cases, too, because if they return to their countries, something bad will happen. They will be beaten or killed."
Domestic violence claims 'generally' won't qualify
Sessions' decision effectively reversed precedent put in place during the administration of former US President Barack Obama that allowed more women to cite domestic violence and fears of gang violence as part of their asylum application. "Generally, claims by aliens pertaining to domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by non-governmental actors will not qualify for asylum," Sessions wrote in his ruling. "The mere fact that a country may have problems effectively policing certain crimes - such as domestic violence or gang violence - or that certain populations are more likely to be victims of crime, cannot itself establish an asylum claim," he said.
The ruling has been slammed by human rights advocates and attorneys, who call it an assault on women's rights. "It essentially says that if you are abused at home or by non-government actors, and Sessions calls this private crime, you do not deserve protection under the nation's asylum laws," said Dorchen Leidholdt, director of the Center for Battered Women's Legal Services at the Sanctuary for Families. "When women are abused, and suffer gender-based violence, it typically happens in private," she told Al Jazeera, adding the decision will "harm thousands and thousands of women"
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https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/asylum-rules-leave-sex-abuse-survivors-afraid-180809234709579.html