San Francisco: A Mexican woman who claimed she was beaten and raped for decades by her common-law husband has won the right to stay in the US in a case that experts say makes clear that domestic violence is valid grounds for asylum.
The Department of Homeland Security found that the case of the woman known only as LR met the stringent standard necessary to win asylum. An immigration judge ruled in her favour on August 4, and the decision was announced this week by her attorneys.
"The point has been made, very loud and clear, that cases such as these involving domestic violence, and even more broadly, gender-based violence against women, are valid cases," said Karen Musalo, LR's attorney and the head of Hastings Law School's Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California.
The name of the applicant was withheld to protect her privacy. What makes this case remarkable is that traditionally asylum has been given to individuals being persecuted by a government — applicants had to show they suffered persecution because of their religion, political beliefs, race, nationality or membership in a particular social group.
Cases such as LR's increase the scope of who may qualify for asylum by expanding the definition of "particular social group." Women who have suffered genital mutilation, or in LR's case, domestic abuse, have been recently deemed "social groups" and granted asylum.
Musalo was also representing a Guatemalan woman whose similar case had been pending for 14 years. With the guidelines in place, Alvarado was able to prove she met the requirements, and was granted asylum last December. The approval of two cases shows these are legitimate cases and there is a recognised guideline for proving them, said Musalo.
