Immigration Judge Reverses Himself in High-Profile Asylum Case: Acknowledges Close Connection Between Female Genital Mutilation and Other Threats to Women’s Life and Freedom

Falls Church, VA—April 26, 2011. In a significant decision issued last week, an immigration judge reversed himself in a high-profile asylum case (Matter of A-T-), finally granting protection to a young woman who had suffered female genital mutilation (FGM) and feared further persecution if she were returned to Mali.

The decision reflects a critical course-correction from earlier decisions by both the judge and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) (the nation’s highest immigration court) that held asylum claims by women who have suffered FGM to a higher legal standard than claims by other asylum applicants.

Ms. “A-T-” is still coping with the life-long painful effects of the FGM to which she was subjected as a child in Mali. Growing up under a violent and controlling father, Ms. A-T- was kept a virtual prisoner in her home, and only allowed outside to attend school. After traveling to the United States to further her studies, Ms. A-T- was ordered home by her father, who intended to force her into a marriage with her first cousin. Fearing forced marriage by her father, rape and beatings by her prospective husband, and violent repercussions from her father if she resisted, Ms. A-T- filed an asylum application requesting protection and permission to remain in the United States.

The immigration judge originally denied her protection in 2005, and in a 2007 opinion, the BIA had initially agreed with that decision, reasoning that Ms. A-T- was unable to prove that she would face future persecution upon return to Mali because FGM is a “one-time” occurrence that cannot be repeated. The BIA also rejected her fear of forced marriage, finding that it did not amount to persecution. In a particularly appalling comment, the BIA mused that because Ms. A-T- and her prospective husband “are of similar ages and backgrounds,” the forced marriage should not “disadvantage her.” [1]

The BIA’s 2007 decision established a more difficult legal standard for women attempting to obtain protection based on past FGM than for other individuals seeking refuge in the United States based on past persecution, who were not similarly required to show that the exact same type of harm that they experienced in the past would befall them in the future. This higher standard is both unfair and nonsensical—just as it would be illogical “to find that a political dissident whose tongue was cut out could be found to have no fear of future harm on account of her political opinion, merely because she cannot again lose her tongue [o]r that a man whose house is burned down on account of his tribal identity fears no future danger since that house has already been destroyed.” [2]

In 2008, Attorney General Michael Mukasey intervened, identified the flaws in the BIA’s legal analysis, and set aside the BIA’s decision in Matter of A-T-, instructing that because forms of gender-based violence are often interconnected, evidence of past FGM may well indicate that a woman will be subjected to other forms of gender-based persecution in the future. In 2009, following the Attorney General’s directive that the case be reconsidered, the BIA sent Matter of A-T- back to immigration court for a new hearing before the original judge in the case. Before the Attorney General stepped in to correct the legal standards to be applied, the BIA’s decision had already begun to have devastating effects around the country on women’s asylum claims based on past FGM, denying protection to some applicants and resulting in government attempts to rescind protection already granted to others.

Last week’s favorable decision in Matter of A-T-, which was pending for over six years before US immigration courts, signals the return of immigration courts from a disturbing departure they had begun to take in the handling of women’s asylum claims. The fact that the immigration judge not only reversed his earlier 2004 decision and evaluated the full extent of future harm that Ms. A-T- faced, but also, after reviewing the extensive evidence submitted by Ms. A-T-’s legal team, finally gave due weight and consideration to Ms. A-T-’s fear of a forced marriage (acknowledging that “the prospect of being subjected to repeated spousal rape would, standing alone, rise to the level of persecution” [3]), marks a significant victory.

Ms. A-T-‘s legal team was led by Tahirih Justice Center (Tahirih) Senior Immigration Staff Attorney Natalie Nanasi, Ronald D. Richey (Law Office of Ronald D. Richey), Jennifer B. Condon and Bryan Lonegan (Center for Social Justice, Seton Hall University School of Law), and Sarah L. Cave (Hughes, Hubbard, & Reed, LLP). Tahirih is a national legal advocacy organization with offices in Falls Church, VA, Houston, TX, and Baltimore, MD, offering free legal services to women and girls fleeing violent human rights abuses such as female genital mutilation, torture, rape, human trafficking, honor crimes, forced marriage, and domestic violence. Since 1997, through direct services and referrals, Tahirih has assisted over 11,000 women and children. Tahirih also engages in national public policy advocacy, working to pass laws, develop regulations, transform policies, establish precedent, and enhance public understanding so that systemic change will ensure the long-term protection of women and girls from violence.

Because of continued ambiguity in the law around gender-based asylum claims, reaching the favorable outcome in Matter of A-T- required the extraordinary intervention of the Attorney General and the concerted efforts of an expert legal team. In order to ensure that all women and girls fleeing persecution are treated fairly under US law, Tahirih continues to advocate for comprehensive, coherent, and binding guidance (in law or by regulations) to clarify the proper legal standards to apply to all gender-based asylum claims.

For more information on Tahirih’s asylum advocacy, please visit our Gender-Based Asylum page.

[1] Matter of A-T-, 24 I & N Dec. 296, 302 (BIA 2007).
[2] Lisa Frydman and Kim Thuy Seelinger, Kasinga’s Protection Undermined? Recent Developments in Female Genital Cutting Jurisprudence, 13 Benders’s Immigration Bulletin 1073, 1080 (September 1, 2008).
[3] Matter of A-T-, IJ Memorandum of Decision and Order at 18 (April 18, 2011).

Contact: Anne Paschke, Development and Communications Associate, justice@tahirih.org

Executive Director of the Tahirih Justice Center recognized as one of Greater Washington’s top female leaders.

FALLS CHURCH, VA—July 20, 2010. The Tahirih Justice Center announced today that its Executive Director, Layli Miller-Muro, will be recognized as one of Greater Washington’s top female leaders with a Washington SmartCEO 2010 BRAVA! Women Business Achievement Award. This award recognizes twenty-five female executives who are exemplary leaders within their companies and communities at large. SmartCEO describes these women as individuals who are “encouraging their staffs and peers to become more involved in giving back to those in need, mentoring fellow leaders, and strategically setting up their organizations for tremendous growth and success.”

Layli Miller-Muro is honored to receive the award, stating, “The women receiving 2010 BRAVA! Awards are a truly accomplished group and I am honored to be counted among their number.”

The BRAVA! winners are profiled in the July issue of SmartCEO, which is read by more than 30,000 business owners in the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan area. Each winner is also featured in the digital edition of the magazine. The winners are selected by an independent panel of business leaders.

“BRAVA! Women Business Achievement award recipients are not only selected and honored for their success in growing a company, but also for demonstrating leadership throughout the Greater Washington community. This unique combination of attributes is fit to be admired by any CEO. We are honored to recognize Layli Miller-Muro as one of Greater Washington’s most influential leaders,” said Jaime Park, publisher of Washington SmartCEO.

The twenty-five award recipients of the fourth annual BRAVA! Awards will celebrate at SmartCEO’s BRAVA! Awards event on Wednesday, July 21, 2010, from 6:00-8:30 pm at The Sphinx Club at Franklin Square, 1315 K St. NW, Washington, DC 20005.

SmartCEO magazine is a regional publication specifically designed to deliver innovative ideas, guiding advice and forward-thinking insight about the daily challenges of running a “growing company.” SmartCEO believes that a growing company is determined by the spirit, drive and dynamics of a company’s owners and managers, rather than by the size of its building, the number of its employees, or its sales volume. Each month more than 30,000 business leaders in the Baltimore and Washington metropolitan markets turn to the pages of SmartCEO for features, case-study advice and trend analysis, all with a uniquely local flavor.

For a complete list of BRAVA! winners visit www.smartceo.com

Contact: Layli Miller-Muro, Executive Director, (571) 282-6161, justice@tahirih.org

Falls Church, VA—March 18, 2010. The Tahirih Justice Center praises last night’s episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (“Witness”), which brought to light obstacles faced by women fleeing violence who seek protection under US law. Sam Waterston, who plays District Attorney “Jack McCoy” on Law & Order, was the keynote speaker at the Tahirih Justice Center’s 2009 Annual Benefit and featured guest at Tahirih’s September 2009 Congressional Briefing on gender-based asylum.

The episode featured a woman from the Congo who shared her story of being gang-raped by a militia in the dead of night, then watching them each rape her five-year-old daughter. Six days later, her daughter died and her husband returned home to throw her out for causing shame to the family. She fled to the United States and stayed, undocumented, for two years, at which point she became a material witness to the rape of an American woman. The episode culminated with a focus on her as the star witness of the rape trial.

The episode highlighted the fact that women who flee brutal human rights abuses in their home countries face many obstacles to receiving safe haven in the United States. While the law has begun to recognize that violence against women can be a basis for asylum, the lack of clear guidance in law and regulation leaves many women without protection. For women fleeing rape as a tool of war, severe and sustained domestic violence, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, “honor” crimes, human trafficking or other forms of gender-based violence, their ability to receive protection in the US is not certain. Women asylum-seekers are also harshly impacted by a legal requirement that applicants file for refugee status within one year of their arrival in the US. Many women, like the woman in this Law & Order episode, struggle to survive in a strange new country, still reeling from the after-effects of the trauma they endured, silenced by powerful feelings of shame and taboo, afraid they will be imprisoned if they present themselves to authorities, and uncertain (for good reason) that they will receive protection if they step forward. For more information on the obstacles faced by women fleeing gender-based violence who seek protection in the United States, please see Tahirih’s report, “Precarious Protection.”

Also highlighted in the show was the availability of the U visa for certain victims and witnesses of crime. Too often undocumented immigrants do not come forward to report crimes and assist police with prosecutions because they fear it will result in their deportation. The anti-immigrant climate in the US and the increasing numbers of local police deputized to enforce immigration law heighten those fears. Although the U visa was established in 2000, regulations were delayed for years and approvals only began in 2009. Still, few victims are aware of its existence, and law enforcement is only gradually recognizing the visa’s availability. For more information on U visas, see Tahirih’s news release highlighting our first clients to receive approvals and a FBI Bulletin article authored by a Tahirih staff attorney and local law enforcement detective.

The Tahirih Justice Center praises Law & Order actors, writers, and producers, including SVU executive producer Neal Baer and writer Dawn DeNoon, for drawing consistent and careful attention to the horrific abuse of women throughout the world and for responsibly portraying the legal hurdles hindering their protection. Episodes like the one that aired last night are powerful platforms for educating the public and policymakers, and Tahirih is deeply grateful to the show for leveraging that platform to help the courageous women and girls we represent.

Through direct legal services, public policy advocacy, and education, the Tahirih Justice Center works to protect immigrant women and girls seeking justice in the United States from gender-based violence.

Falls Church, VA—October 16, 2009. A US Department of Justice (DOJ) News Release issued on October 13, 2009[1] raises renewed serious concerns about the federal government’s inattention to the full implementation and enforcement of the “International Marriage Broker Regulation Act” (IMBRA), a law enacted in January 2006 as part of the reauthorized Violence Against Women Act. According to the release, the federal agency charged with making referrals for enforcement of IMBRA is “yet to be determined,” which leaves IMBRA without an effective enforcement process.

IMBRA regulates the fast-growing “international marriage broker” industry (“IMBs,” commonly referred to as “mail-order bride agencies”), provides critical information to foreign brides about the criminal histories of their prospective American spouses, informs them of their legal rights and of resources available to them if they are abused, and makes changes in the foreign fiancé(e) and spouse visa application process to prevent abuse and exploitation by serial predators.

The DOJ News Release, issued by the Office of the Chief Administrative Hearing Officer (OCAHO),[2] outlines all of OCAHO’s responsibilities, including its jurisdiction to hear and decide civil cases brought against IMBs that violate IMBRA. As the News Release makes clear, however, OCAHO cannot hear IMBRA enforcement cases until a federal agency charged with enforcing IMBRA brings IMB violations to OCAHO’s attention.

The government’s continuing failure to fully implement and enforce the provisions of IMBRA—nearly 4 years after the law was enacted—withholds lifesaving protections from the thousands of foreign brides and their children who immigrate to the United States each year.

Over a year ago, a critical report regarding the government’s lack of progress on IMBRA was issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO).[3] Among other concerns, the GAO report found that DOJ had yet to coordinate with the Department of Homeland Security and Department of State to determine how civil and criminal violations of IMBRA by IMBs will be investigated, referred and prosecuted, leaving the law in the interim effectively unenforceable. The report identified the absence of an enforcement framework as a key government failure.

The Tahirih Justice Center (Tahirih) led the national coalition that drafted and advocated for the passage of IMBRA. Tahirih appreciates DOJ’s announcement designating OCAHO as the forum for hearing civil cases, and sincerely hopes this development indicates only the beginning of further significant progress.

That said, as long as IMBRA implementation and enforcement is lagging, vulnerable foreign women who meet American men through IMBs will remain dangerously unaware of life-saving information about a future partner’s violent criminal history and about their legal rights. Tahirih will continue to work with the national coalition to urge the government to fully implement and enforce IMBRA’s vital protections.

Through direct legal services, public policy advocacy, and education, the Tahirih Justice Center works to protect immigrant women and girls seeking justice in the United States from gender-based violence.

For more information on IMBRA, please read about our Campaign to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation through the International Marriage Broker Industry.

[2] OCAHO falls within the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

[3] For more information on the GAO report, please visit: http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08862.pdf (Full Report) or http://www.gao.gov/highlights/d08862high.pdf (Highlights Page).