On September 2, 2025, Attorney General Pamela Bondi overruled an important precedent that supported domestic violence-related asylum claims. In the same decision, she reinstated flawed 2018 and 2021 Attorney General decisions that sought to restrict asylum eligibility for survivors of gender-based violence and other persecution at the hands of non-governmental actors.
How We Got Here
In 2014, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a precedential decision in Matter of A-R-C-G-. The Board found that a domestic violence survivor was eligible for asylum because she established that she was persecuted on account of being in a particular social group of “Guatemalan married women who are unable to leave their relationship.”
Although asylum applications must always be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, Matter of A-R-C-G- provided important clarity to survivors, attorneys, asylum officers, and immigration judges that domestic violence survivors could be eligible for asylum.
In 2018, then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions used a previously rarely used procedure to certify to himself for review the case of a woman who fled years of severe domestic violence in Guatemala and sought asylum in the United States. After his review of the case, he issued a precedential decision in Matter of A-B-, stating that generally, asylum claims involving harm caused by private actors – such as domestic violence – would not be eligible for asylum. In the decision, AG Sessions also overruled Matter of A-R-C-G-, the 2014 case that allowed for asylum to be granted based on domestic violence.
In the 2018 A-B- decision, the Attorney General wrongly stated that where the persecutor is a non-state actor, the harm must be “attributed to” to the government, although the legal requirement is that if harm is inflicted by a nonstate actor, the government must be unable or unwilling to control the persecutor.
A follow-up decision by then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen (A-B- II) in January 2021 sought to clarify that this legal standard remained, but the two decisions together continued to cause confusion, and as a result, many immigration judges denied asylum applications of domestic violence survivors.
In June 2021, then-Attorney General Merrick Garland certified the A-B- I and II decisions for review and overruled them. The Garland decision, A-B- III, rejected the broad language finding that harm caused by non-state actors would generally not be eligible for asylum. Attorney General Garland also pointed to the fact that DHS and DOJ intended to issue new regulations clarifying the requirements for particular social groups and other asylum requirements. Further, Garland reinstated the 2014 Matter of A-R-C-G- case as binding precedent.
On September 2, 2025, Attorney General Bondi certified a different case, Matter of S-S-F-M-, and used that case to overrule the Garland decision in A-B- III, overrule again Matter of A-R-C-G-, and put back in place as precedent Matter of A-B- I and II from 2018 and early 2021.
Impact on Survivors
Despite its sweeping language, the Attorney General cannot simply eliminate asylum eligibility for survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, and other forms of gender-based violence perpetrated by non-governmental actors. Each asylum case must be determined on its own merits with an individualized assessment of eligibility. Tahirih successfully won asylum for many clients between June 2018 and June 2021 when A-B- was first in effect.
However, Attorney General Bondi’s decision to return to A-B- and again overrule Matter of A-R-C-G- means that asylum claims will be harder to prove for survivors of gender-based violence. Survivors may be deterred from even seeking asylum protections, believing that asylum officers and immigration judges will be predisposed to deny their claims based on the Attorney General’s decision.
The decision is also harmful because, like Matter of A-B- I, it attempts to return to an out-of-date view of domestic violence as a “private matter” instead of persecution that is rooted in systemic inequalities.
The Solution
In response to the September 2 decision, Tahirih Justice Center CEO Archi Pyati stated:
“It is time to put an end to the rollercoaster of injustice that immigrant survivors of domestic and sexual violence seeking asylum have been forced to tolerate for far too long. While there still may be pathways to asylum for survivors, this decision is woefully out of step with modern U.S. and global legal approaches to violence against women. Congress must act now so that women and girls who fear harm because of their gender, race, religion, or political opinions have a path to safety. We will keep fighting to ensure their voices are heard and their rights protected.”
In response to yesterday’s decision, and other ongoing policy and legal attacks on immigrant women, the Tahirih Justice Center is calling out not only the harm of this decision but elevating, once again, the urgent need for ‘gender’ to be recognized as a protected ground for asylum. For more information, read Now Is the Time to Recognize Gender as a Ground for Asylum and Ensuring Equal and Enduring Access to Asylum: Why ‘Gender’ Must be a Protected Ground.