Sessions’ Decision Leaves Thousands of U.S. Asylum Claims in Doubt
On June 11, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered federal judges to stop granting asylum to the tens of thousands of applicants who claim to be fleeing their countries due to domestic abuse and gang violence. Sessions determined that refugee or asylum status should be limited only to those individuals who can establish that the persecution they are suffering in their country of origin is based on their membership in a “particular social group” with a “common immutable characteristic.” Sessions asserted that, in the majority of cases, victims of domestic violence or gang related persecution did not constitute membership in such a group.
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