The American Civil Liberties Union, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, the ACLU of Texas, and the ACLU of D.C. filed a federal lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s gutting of asylum protections for immigrants fleeing domestic violence and gang brutality.
At issue are new “expedited removal” policies put forth by Attorney General Jeff Sessions that instruct asylum officers to “generally” deny such claims — calling them purely “personal” — as well as apply erroneous legal standards, and ignore contrary federal court precedents. The policies undermine the fundamental human rights of women, contradicting decades of settled domestic and international law recognizing gender-based persecution as a basis for asylum. They also impermissibly undermine claims involving gang violence.
The case, Grace v. Sessions, was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C.
