Asylum Can Be Used for Domestic Abuse

Among so much media coverage of poor responses to domestic violence, a beacon of light in the form of the U.S. government!  

On August 26, 2014, the Board of Immigration Appeals granted a Guatemalan woman asylum in the United States.  To be eligible for asylum, a person must have suffered persecution, or have a fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.  People argued for many years about whether victims of domestic violence made up a particular social group.  In the case of the woman who was recently awarded asylum, the argument was also made that the Guatemalan government did not protect her, as she asked for assistance from the police to stop the violence, but her cries went unanswered.  In their ruling, the Board of Immigration Appeals wrote that the woman suffered in silence due in part to a "culture of machismo and family violence."

This decision affirms what many immigrant women already know, that to escape their abuser, they sometimes must remove themselves from a culture that allows the abuse to happen.  We are very thankful to the Immigration Department in their many efforts to protect victims/survivors of many types of crime by awarding U-Visas and T-Visas. This decision is another step in the right direction of protecting those people who come to our country seeking safety and security from those who wish to hurt them.  May we honor our promise to protect.