DOJ restricts asylum claims based on family relations
A decision issued Monday by Attorney General William Barr will restrict the ability of migrants to claim asylum based on their family relations.
In a precedent-setting immigration court opinion, Barr said that simply being part of a nuclear family targeted for persecution doesn’t qualify as a “particular social group” eligible for asylum in the United States.
“The fact that a criminal group — such as a drug cartel, gang, or guerrilla force — targets a group of people does not, standing alone, transform those people into a particular social group,” the attorney general wrote.
President Donald Trump has sought to restrict access to asylum, which his administration views as a magnet that draws migrants north from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a similar immigration court decision in June 2018 that blocked asylum for victims of domestic violence and gang violence, a move that drew condemnation from pro-migrant advocates. A federal judge based in Washington, D.C., struck down the bulk of that policy six months later.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/doj-restricts-asylum-claims-based-on-family-relations/ar-AAF1I3m