"Duress" Defense Perversely Opens the Door for Persecutors, War Criminals, and Human Rights Abusers to Seek Asylum or Refugee Status
By Dan Cadman on July 2, 2018
Law360 (partially behind a paywall) has published a short piece about a recent ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), the administrative appellate tribunal of the immigration courts, which creates a defense against removal from the United States for aliens who have engaged in persecution "under duress".
Questions linger about whether the BIA exceeded its authority — as expressed, for instance, in a dissent by one of the Board members. But even larger questions arise as to the morality of such a decision, which potentially even eliminates a longstanding bar against persecutors seeking asylum or refugee status under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
According to Law 360, the majority decision asserts that:
https://cis.org/Cadman/Duress-Defense-Perversely-Opens-Door-Persecutors-War-Criminals-and-Human-Rights-Abusers-Seek
