WOMEN & ASYLUM - Mending the System

Rodi Alvarado Peña fled Guatemala in 1995 to escape the brutal beatings her husband meted out on a daily basis for years. Guatemalan authorities had refused to do anything to help end the abuse.

Fauziya Kassindja left her homeland in Togo in 1994, rather than endure female genital mutilation, the barbaric removal of her external sexual organs by elders in her village.

Hua Zen Chen escaped China in 1999, after Chinese officials seized her, forced her to have an abortion and threatened her with sterilization. The reason? She had become pregnant with a second child in violation of the country’s strict one-child rule.

Mina Burhani, in 1998, enraged the Taliban regime in Afghanistan by daring to open a school for young girls. She fled after suffering a brutal beating that left her near death.

What do these women have in common?

They all sought asylum in the United States after suffering abuse in their homelands. Sadly, none were welcomed here. Each of these women entered into the labyrinthine bureaucracy of the U.S. immigration system. Upon arrival they were handcuffed and shackled, then imprisoned in detention centers and criminal jails for months or even years, without possibility of parole. But they were also the lucky ones—pro bono lawyers and advocacy groups took on their cases and fought hard on their behalf. Three of these women eventually were granted asylum and were allowed to stay in the U.S. Still, Alvarado Peña has not received asylum and continues to live in legal limbo.

U.S. asylum law allows illegal aliens to stay here if they cannot or will not return to their home country because of proven past persecution or a credible fear of future persecution based on race, religion, nationality, politics, or membership in a social group. The law has no specific category for gender-based violence. This gap in the definitions, combined with insensitivity to their situations, makes these women’s asylum cases much more difficult to prove.

The difficulties faced by asylum seekers who are victims of gender-based violence are nested within a troubled immigration system in desperate need of reform. Under the current system, as many as 15 percent of asylees are denied interviews with immigration officials, the first step in the asylum process, often because of discrimination in the selection process. Once the asylum process begins, individuals are separated from their families—even their young children—and housed in prison-like detention centers or county jails along side common criminals. There are no codified rules for processing asylum seekers, only guidelines and these are applied arbitrarily. Abuse is rampant. New security measures enacted after the 9-11 terrorist attack, while well intentioned, have added further burdens and hurdles to the plight of asylum seekers. In many regions, authorities have stopped paroling asylees altogether, even if they have family in the area. Meanwhile, Congress has adopted legislation that further restricts the rights of asylum seekers, including The Illegal Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and the REAL ID Act, which are designed to prevent abuses of the immigration system and prevent terrorism, but which can hurt legitimate asylees and refugees.

In recognition of the plight of women seeking a safe haven from gender-based violence, and outrage at the way these people are treated when they arrive here, Hadassah passed a policy statement at its July 2005 Convention calling for improvements to the asylum system. These include officially recognizing gender-based violence as grounds for asylum and adapting the asylum process to accommodate women. The statement also calls on the U.S. to improve the way all asylum cases are handled.

For a comprehensive list of Hadassah’s policy statements on domestic issues since 1980, visit our Web site at www.hadassah.org “Advocacy” then click on “Domestic Policy Statement”

For more information, please contact the National American Affairs/Domestic Policy Department at (212) 303-8136 or americanaffairs@hadassah.org. To receive Action Alerts on related legislation, send us your name and e-mail address to join our E-mail Action Network.