In a sweeping move that immigrant rights advocates say endangers decades of progress for women seeking refuge in the United States, the Board of Immigration Appeals last week issued a decision that sharply limits the ability of women and girls to seek asylum on the basis of gender-based persecution.
The ruling issued July 18, in a case known as Matter of KESG, could have far-reaching implications for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault.
“This decision does not mean that women fleeing gender-based violence are now ineligible for asylum,” said Kursten Phelps, litigation counsel at the Tahirih Justice Center, another co-counsel in the KESG case. “But it throws up unnecessary barriers. It increases the burden on survivors to relive their trauma in greater detail, and increases the time, resources, and legal complexity required to win their case.”
“We’re seeing women at the border, at airports, who have meritorious claims but never even apply because they’re told, implicitly or explicitly, that their experiences don’t count,” she said.
