{"id":74144,"date":"2025-07-23T11:54:31","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T18:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74144"},"modified":"2025-07-28T11:55:15","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T18:55:15","slug":"women-fleeing-abuse-face-new-hurdles-after-justice-department-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=74144","title":{"rendered":"Women Fleeing Abuse Face New Hurdles After Justice Department Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Sunita Sohrabji<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cWomen and girls were used as a political justification for U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan, and now they are being turned away when they seek safety here.\u201d \u2014 Laila Ayub, director of Project ANAR.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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(Maria Darii photo via Unsplash)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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In a sweeping move that immigrant rights advocates say endangers decades of progress for women seeking refuge in the United States, the Board of Immigration Appeals last week issued a decision that sharply limits the ability of women and girls to seek asylum on the basis of gender-based persecution.<\/p>\n

The ruling issued July 18, in a case known as\u00a0Matter of KESG<\/a><\/em>, could have far-reaching implications for survivors of domestic violence, human trafficking, and sexual assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision attempts to turn back the clock on women\u2019s rights,\u201d said Neela Chakravartala, Associate Director of Litigation at the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, who also serves as co-counsel in the KESG case. \u201cIt signals to immigration judges that women\u2019s claims shouldn\u2019t be taken seriously. And that is incredibly dangerous,\u201d she noted at a July 22 news briefing.<\/p>\n

Reshaping Asylum Law<\/h2>\n

At issue is whether \u201cwomen,\u201d or more specifically \u201cSalvadoran women,\u201d can be recognized under immigration law as a \u201cparticular social group\u201d \u2014 one of five protected categories under which asylum may be granted. For years, gender-based claims have been considered valid under both U.S. law and international refugee conventions. But the BIA decision in\u00a0KESG<\/em>\u00a0states that such a group is \u201ctoo broad.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ruling comes amid broader efforts by the Trump administration to reshape immigration law through judicial decisions and internal rulemaking. \u201cThis is one of the first moves they\u2019re making to try to reverse the progress made for women and girls seeking asylum,\u201d Chakravartala said.<\/p>\n

For Anabel, a Salvadoran woman and former asylum seeker, the KESG ruling is a painful reminder of her own harrowing experience. \u201cIt was very sad when I was denied asylum,\u201d she said during the press briefing. \u201cI had three children, and I was always praying everything would work out. When they tell you that you have to go back to a place where you are in danger, it\u2019s devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Women Are Dying\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201dMany women have been sent back to their countries, and they die. Men abuse us. They hit us. Our struggle is continuous,\u201d said Anabel, speaking in Spanish.<\/p>\n

Anabel eventually won her case, but only after years of legal battles and a change in administration. \u201cNow I\u2019m with my children. But I know many women who never got that chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Legal experts stress that while the BIA decision does not outright ban gender-based asylum claims, it sets a chilling precedent and complicates the path to protection.<\/p>\n

\u2018Unnecessary Barriers\u2019<\/h2>\n

\u201cThis decision does not mean that women fleeing gender-based violence are now ineligible for asylum,\u201d said Kursten Phelps, litigation counsel at the Tahirih Justice Center, another co-counsel in the KESG case. \u201cBut it throws up unnecessary barriers. It increases the burden on survivors to relive their trauma in greater detail, and increases the time, resources, and legal complexity required to win their case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing women at the border, at airports, who have meritorious claims but never even apply because they\u2019re told, implicitly or explicitly, that their experiences don\u2019t count,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Afghan Women and Girls<\/h2>\n

The ruling\u2019s ripple effects are especially alarming for Afghan women and girls, many of whom arrived in the U.S. after the Taliban retook power in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis decision is a betrayal,\u201d said Leila Ayub, director of Project ANAR, an Afghan American women-led immigration justice group. \u201cWomen and girls were used as a political justification for U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan, and now they are being turned away when they seek safety here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Afghan women and girls fleeing violence may no longer automatically be eligible for asylum in the US, says Laila Ayub of\u00a0@ProjectAnar<\/a>\u00a0speaking on a new decision issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals.\u00a0@CGRS_Asylum<\/a>\u00a0@tahirihjustice<\/a>\u00a0pic.twitter.com\/jQRmujx4Ry<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 American Community Media (@AmCommMedia)\u00a0July 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cOur clients are students, mothers, and teenagers. They fled because they had no choice. And now they face deportation to a regime that denies them the right to go to school or walk alone,\u201d said Ayub.<\/p>\n

Last October, the European Court of Justice\u00a0ruled<\/a>\u00a0that Afghan women can qualify categorically as a \u201cparticular social group\u201d under asylum law. \u201cOther nations are moving forward. The U.S. is moving backward,\u201d said Ayub.<\/p>\n