Foreign Battered Women May Be Granted Asylum In The U.S.
Posted by: Carrie Wasterlain
Filed in:
news
10:00AM, Thursday July 16th 2009
Foreign victims of domestic violence may finally be able to escape their abuse; the Obama administration has instated a new policy that may grant some of these victims asylum in the United States. The policy would reverse a Bush administration stance that did not allow foreign abuse victims entry into the U.S.
In order to be considered a refugee candidate, abused women will need to prove that they are treated “as little better than property,” and that their country has done nothing to help them (i.e. “abuse is widely tolerated in their country”).
This issue was recently brought to the forefront by the case of a Mexican women who has been requesting asylum for years, fearing she might be murdered by her husband in Mexico. He had reportedly tried to set her on fire when he found out she was pregnant, repeatedly raped her at gunpoint, and stole from her. Though the woman has not been immediately granted protection by the U.S., the Department of Homeland security has said that it is “a possibility,” and that “other applicants who have experienced domestic violence could qualify for asylum” as well. Under the Bush administration, refuge was denied to the woman (whose name remains confidential), but her case is now being sent back to the immigration court for further review.
According to Karen Musalo, director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law, the new policy “really opens the door to the protection of women who have suffered these kinds of violations.” [NY Times]
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emflow
wrote on July 16 2009 @ 10:38 am: [report]
I’m sure there’s potential for people to misuse this system - that exists with any immigration statute. But based on the NY Times article it doesn’t sound like an open door policy.
avalari
wrote on July 16 2009 @ 10:38 am: [report]
I agree with Phil. I hate to say it, but this country is so overpopulated as it is. It could be asked why we don’t take all the starving kids in from Africa as well, or the persecuted in China….We have a responsibility as a superpower to help ease the suffering in the rest of the world, definitely, but where do you draw the line? I can see how for women being repeatedly abused and mistreated coming here can be the difference between life and death, but then what?
Coral
wrote on July 16 2009 @ 11:01 am: [report]
@avalari: Our country is simply not overpopulated. There is lots and lots of room for people. Although I do agree that there has to be a point where we draw the line because we obviously cannot help the entire suffering world, nor should we be the only ones to either.
Cherubina
wrote on July 16 2009 @ 11:23 am: [report]
@Phil In terms of “playing the system,” people seeking asylum do that anyway. Indeed, the rules remain very strict as to who gets in and who doesn’t, and it largely depends on which judge decides a particular person’s case. Some people even offer their services as “coaches” for asylum seekers—for a fee, of course—telling them how to work the Homeland Security officers and judges who hear the cases. Still others flat out lie or conveniently “can’t recall” certain events that may work against their case.
Since all of this goes on already, I feel like women seeking refuge from domestic violence—those who fit the new requirements (which, in my opinion, are still pretty strict)—still have to work hard to persuade the judge, and I’m sure some of them, too, will pay “coaches” and try to “play the system.” This is why they plead their cases before a judge—so someone can sort out the truth-tellers from those who simply, as you said, are “driving their husbands so crazy they get beat up ... bruised and bleeding and bypassing the headaches of going through the process properly.”
Cherubina
wrote on July 16 2009 @ 11:49 am: [report]
By the way, if you’re wondering where I got all the above information, it was from a course I took in college on race and gender in a class focusing on immigration law and refugees. In that class, we watched a documentary film that followed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (now Homeland Security) officers as they interviewed and various asylum-seekers from all over the world and touched on how the process works.
I also suggest, if you’re interested in this topic, a newer documentary called “The Least of These,” which deals with detained families (i.e. battered women with children) seeking asylum. A link to the full film is here: http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/the_least_of_these/