Department of Justice Vacates Two Important Asylum Decisions
Preston Huennekens
Government Relations Manager
FAIR Take | June 2021
The Department of Justice, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, recently ended two asylum decisions that limited the ability of aliens to use the asylum system for the purpose of entering the United States.
Garland’s decision will undoubtedly expand the definition of what it means to belong to a “particular social group” for the purposes of asylum protection – greatly increasing the number of aliens entering the U.S. through the process. This decision will also add to the growing list of pull factors attracting illegal aliens to the Southwest border.
In order to win asylum, seekers have to prove they've suffered or fear persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. In Matter of A-B-, former attorney general Jeff Sessions overruled a previous court decision that recognized a certain category of domestic violence survivors as eligible for asylum based on their membership in a particular social group. Sessions and other observers noted that fearing domestic violence in their home country – while certainly deserving sympathy - did not constitute an appropriate qualifier for asylum protections.
https://www.fairus.org/legislation/federal-legislation/department-justice-vacates-two-important-asylum-decisions
