WASHINGTON- U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) sent a letter urging Attorney General Sessions to maintain protections in current law for immigrant victims of domestic violence seeking asylum in the United States. Attorney General Sessions has announced that he will review the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) holding in Matter of A-B-, which involves a woman who suffered years of abuse in El Salvador before seeking asylum in the United States. In 2014, a Guatemalan woman named Aminta Cifuentes was granted protection in the United States after she endured a decade of severe physical and sexual abuse from her husband. The precedent created by that case recognized that certain domestic violence victims – “married women…who are unable to leave their relationship” – are eligible for asylum in the United States.

In the letter, Klobuchar and Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Bob Menendez (D-NJ), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY, Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) stressed that overturning that precedent could create significant barriers for future domestic violence victims seeking protection from abusive partners in the United States.

“We write in response to your decision to review the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) holding in Matter of A-B-, and to express our strong concern regarding the potential implications of overturning that decision for victims of domestic violence seeking protection in the United States,” the senators wrote. “We urge you to uphold the BIA’s decision in the case before you, as maintaining existing BIA precedent will preserve critical protections for those who have suffered severe domestic violence and taken extraordinary risks to escape their abusers by seeking asylum in the United States.”

The full text of the letter can be found below:

Dear Attorney General Sessions:

We write in response to your decision to review the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) holding in Matter of A-B-, and to express our strong concern regarding the potential implications of overturning that decision for victims of domestic violence seeking protection in the United States.

Matter of A-B- involves a woman who suffered years of abuse in El Salvador before seeking asylum in the United States. Over 15 years, Ms. A.B. was physically abused by her husband, including while she was pregnant. Her husband repeatedly threatened her with death, including while holding a knife to her throat and while brandishing a gun. After she left her husband and obtained a divorce, he found her and raped her. She was unsuccessful in securing protection from law enforcement in El Salvador, where she also received threats from her husband’s brother, who is a police officer.

Unfortunately, this case is just one of many involving immigrant survivors of domestic violence who are trying to flee their abusers. In 2014, a Guatemalan woman named Aminta Cifuentes was granted protection in the United States after she endured a decade of severe physical and sexual abuse from her husband. The precedent created by that case recognized that certain domestic violence victims – “married women…who are unable to leave their relationship” – are eligible for asylum in the United States. Overturning that precedent could create significant barriers for future domestic violence victims seeking protection from abusive partners in the United States.

Congress has also recognized the importance of making protections available for immigrant victims of domestic violence. Since 2000, certain immigrant victims of domestic violence and other crimes have been eligible to remain in the United States through U visas. In 2013, the Senate voted to expand protections for immigrant victims of domestic violence by allowing the spouses of those residing in the United States under temporary visas to self-petition for legal status.

We urge you to uphold the BIA’s decision in the case before you, as maintaining existing BIA precedent will preserve critical protections for those who have suffered severe domestic violence and taken extraordinary risks to escape their abusers by seeking asylum in the United States.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

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