U.S. Attorney General Grants Law Petition to Stop Deportation of Victims of Genital Mutilation
Last week, Attorney General Michael Mukasey granted the petition of the Center for Social Justice at Seton Hall Law School to reverse a recent decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (the federal agency responsible for the interpretation of federal immigration law), which denied asylum to victims of female genital mutilation.
Female genital mutilation is a traditional practice in some developing countries where girls and women are forced to cut or remove their genitalia. The practice has led to countless deaths and serious health problems.
Several bipartisan U.S. Representatives and numerous legal experts and medical professionals backed the petition, which called on the Attorney General to reverse the Board of Immigration Appeal’s decision. The Attorney General agreed the ruling was based upon “flawed reasoning”.
The ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals said that women who’ve suffered female genital mutilation have no claim to asylum because they’ve already undergone the procedure and therefore have no reason to fear it happening again when they return to their country.
The Board does not apply similar interpretation to victims of other kinds of persecution.
Mukasey reversed that previous decision, to the relief of legal experts who worried that it would have resulted in the reversal of existing U.S. policy on the treatment of women in the asylum-granting process.
“The United States has an obligation to honor the rights of women who are fortunate enough to seek protection of their rights abroad,” said Jenny-Brooke Condon, assistant clinical professor at the Center for Social Justice. “The U.S. must not turn its back on these courageous women who seek protection and recognition of their right to autonomy and bodily integrity. Attorney General Mukasey has honored that obligation.”
Recent Immigration Articles:
· ‘Secret’ Marriages & U.S. Immigration Law
· Mexican Children Denied Human Dignity
