POLITICS
LGBTQ Groups Sue Trump for Limiting Asylum Claims
Lawyers aim to halt incoming rule before it is slated to go into effect on January 11
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
Immigration advocates fi led
a lawsuit December 21 demanding
the Trump administration
reverse course on
a rule that could restrict LGBTQ
and HIV-positive asylum seekers
in the United States.
The new fi ling from Immigration
Equality, the Transgender Law
Center, and other advocacy groups
aims to halt the administration’s
attempts to restrict who receives
refugee status in the US. Along
with eliminating refugee status for
anyone with a gender-based claim
— which impacts queer folks — the
rule would wipe out due process for
many refugees and even discard
cases of those who did not seek
asylum in countries they passed
through on their way to the US.
In June, the administration
published the proposal. Within a
President Donald Trump’s latest attempt to curtail immigration could wreak havoc on LGBTQ and HIVpositive
asylum seekers.
month, the public had to review
and offer feedback on the 161-page
document. Many agencies were
scrambling to draft suggestions.
REUTERS/ CARLOS BARRIA
Aaron Morris, the executive director
of Immigration Equality,
told Gay City News the administration
largely ignored their feedback.
Morris said this forced advocates
to fi le a lawsuit.
“They only took a few months
to review them, basically bat them
all away, and then didn’t really
change that much,” Morris said. “If
this law goes into effect, there will
be thousands of people who are
sent back to places where they will
be tortured and killed.”
The Department of Homeland
Security and the US Department
of Justice’s Executive Offi ce for Immigration
Review announced the
fi nal rule in a 419-page document
earlier this month. Under the new
policy — which take effect on January
11 — asylum seekers must
claim “credible fear of persecution
or torture” if they’re fl eeing their
home country.
The rules also require immigrants
prove a “severe level of harm
that includes actions so severe that
they constitute an exigent threat,”
the document states.
Furthermore, the rule largely
dismisses asylum cases stemming
from abuse infl icted by private actors,
which could impact LGBTQ
and HIV-positive asylum seekers
who have faced persecution from
family members or folks in their
community. Individuals seeking
asylum could also be forced
to share their sexual orientation,
gender identity, or HIV status because
the rule requires folks to
elaborate on the social groups
they belong to if they want their
cases to be considered.
While it is unlikely that the
court will strike down this rule in
the next couple weeks, Morris said
the group is asking that the court
issue an emergency motion. This
could stop implementation as the
courts decide whether the rule is
legal.
Advocates have dubbed these
anti-immigration efforts “death to
asylum.” Caroline Kornfi eld Roberts,
executive director of Oasis
Legal Services, a group representing
LGBTQ asylum seekers, condemned
the rule as “immoral” and
“illegal.”
“Due to the severity of the persecution
our clients have suffered,
we win 99 percent of our cases,”
Roberts said in a written statement.
“Under this new rule, over
80 percent of our clients could be
barred from protection, facing deportation
and death in their home
countries.”
According to Morris, the latest
rule is a “warping of the law.” This
could make it nearly impossible for
asylum seekers to convince a judge
of their case.
“If you think of a transgender
woman from El Salvador coming
to the United States on foot, it may
well take her more than 14 days
even to walk through Mexico,”
Morris said regarding the rule’s
restrictions on immigrants who
stayed in a transit country for two
weeks or more. “Even if she’s eligible,
even if she has a super compelling
case, she doesn’t deserve
it.”
President-Elect Joe Biden is
expected to unravel many of the
Trump administration’s actions on
immigration, though members of
Biden’s transition team conceded
on December 22 that it will take
some time complete those steps.
Biden will take offi ce nine days after
the asylum rule is slated to go
into effect.
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