The Justice Department Overturns Rules That Limited Asylum For Survivors Of Violence

Survivors of domestic and gang violence have better odds of getting asylum in the U.S. as the Justice Department reverses several controversial rulings from the Trump administration.

In a pair of decisions announced Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland is vacating those legal rulings issued by his predecessors — in effect, restoring the possibility of asylum protections for women fleeing from domestic violence in other countries, and some victims of gang violence.

"These decisions involve important questions about the meaning of our Nation's asylum laws, which reflect America's commitment to providing refuge to some of the world's most vulnerable people," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta wrote in a memo explaining the decisions to the country's immigration judges.

Biden signed an executive order in February telling his administration to rewrite the asylum rules. But that process will take months, if not years. Immigrant advocates warned that abuse survivors were still at risk of being deported and urged the attorney general to take swift action in the meantime.

Wednesday's decisions essentially mean that asylum rules will revert to what they were before former President Donald Trump took office. The cases, known as Matter of A.B. and Matter of L.E.A., were both decided by attorneys general during the Trump administration.

Trump frequently referred to asylum as a "scam," and his administration took steps to limit asylum protections for migrants arriving at the southern border.

"The asylum system is being abused to the detriment of the rule of law," then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions said during a 2018 speech, arguing there are some social ills the U.S. just can't fix.

"Asylum was never meant to alleviate all problems — even all serious problems — that people face every day all over the world," Sessions said.

In the process, immigrant advocates said Sessions took U.S. law backwards. They said many women are still suffering persecution in countries where the police won't protect them from violent partners — including Ms. A.B, the woman at the center of the case that bears her name. She said she had no choice but to leave El Salvador and seek protection in the United States.

"We are fleeing the possibility of being assassinated," she said in Spanish through an interpreter in an interview this year. "I was able to escape, but many have died; many people are no longer around to tell their story." [Copyright 2021 NPR]