Today I’m going to talk to you about a recent asylum ruling that was decided personally by Attorney General Sessions that limited the ability of individuals to gain asylum particularly when it comes to victims of gang violence or domestic abuse.
Asylum is an application available to those people that cannot return back to their home country and in the U.S. That person must demonstrate that he or she is physically present in the U.S. and that he or she is unable to avail themselves of the protection of their home country because they’ve suffered past persecution or they have a well-founded fear of future persecution on the basis of protected grounds such as your race, your religion, your nationality, your political opinion or if you’re a member of a particular social group.
Earlier this year Attorney General Sessions invoked a rarely utilized power to certify a case personally. Recently he reversed a previous grant of asylum to a Salvadorian domestic violence survivor who had fled after suffering horrific violence. Her own government failed to prevent or stop her or stop it from happening. In doing so, Sessions overturned and replaced 20 years of Asylum law and he turned back to a time when the United States wrongfully denied the protection to women fleeing gender-based persecution.
Sessions disregarded the principle that every asylum case should be carefully considered on its own individual merit and he directed adjudicators and immigration judges nationwide to do the same. In doing so, he undermines the whole purpose of having immigration courts. The courts are supposed to be independent but how independent can they really be when the Attorney General of the United States can overrule them and certify cases himself. He hires the immigration judges and everyone reports to Donald Trump.
This unfair and this type of failure of due process led me to found Godoy Law Office to stand as an advocate for immigrants.
In a study regarding asylum applications from 2012 through 2017 they found that asylum applications from Mexico and Central America, those applications were likely to be denied at a rate of 75%. Now contrast that to other countries such as China that enjoyed a 70% approval rate.
If you are affected or you know someone who is going to be affected, the best thing that you can do right now is work with an attorney to review the details of your case. You should be reviewing all possible immigration options, not just asylum. If asylum is the only thing that you have, then you need to look at distinguishing facts in order to avoid the recent decision by the Attorney General.
You should discuss your asylum application e with a qualified immigration attorney. Contact the immigration lawyers at Godoy Law Office for more information at 855.554.6369.
