U.S. Attorney General William Barr issued a ruling on Tuesday ruled which determines that family members of a victim of violence are not eligible for asylum as a “particular social group,” thus placing a new obstacle to that system of protection.
Immigrants who fear persecution in their home countries because of their family ties will no longer be considered eligible for asylum, according to a new directive issued by Attorney General William Barr.
In the family ties case, known as “Matter of L-E-A,” Barr overruled a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals, finding that the board improperly ruled a Mexican was eligible for asylum protection because the threats against him came about only after a drug cartel first threatened his father. According to the Attorney General, the Board “improperly recognized the respondent´s father´s as a ‘particular social group’ for purposes of qualifying for asylum.”
.According to data released by local media, the attorney general specified that the Board “improperly recognized the respondent´s father´s as a ‘particular social group’ for purposes of qualifying for asylum.”
Barr’s arguments are protected by the Asylum Law, which provides that a person who is in the U.S. or who arrives at a port of entry may seek asylum after having been the victim of persecution or fear of facing it because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, and political opinion, a benefit that may cover the applicant’s spouse and children (under 21 years of age and unmarried).
The government of President Donald Trump has taken several actions to limit asylum grants, including making it harder for victims of domestic violence to obtain protection, and ending bond for asylum seekers, which was recently overturned in federal court.
But in his decision, the prosecutor argued that “most nuclear families are not inherently socially distinct and therefore do not qualify as ‘particular social groups’.”
“The fact that a criminal group, such as a drug cartel, a gang or a guerrilla force, targets a group of people does not, standing alone, transforms those people into a particular social group,” he added.
The attorney general’s document came after on July 24, a federal judge in California temporarily blocked asylum restrictions approved a week earlier by U.S. President Donald Trump, which sought to shut most Central American asylum seekers out of the system.
The decision of this magistrate, Jon S. Tigar, with a court in San Francisco (USA), replaced a previous judicial ruling of the same day, which left Trump’s measure standing, in an ephemeral victory for the president.
Translated by: José Espinoza
Noticias Newswire
