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1 (October 25, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/crsmthzzbrn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional ______ a Research Service ~~~ [~nforming the Iegis alive debate since 1914___________________ Asylum and Related Protections for Aliens Who Fear Gang and Domestic Violence Hillel R. Smith Legislative Attorney October 25, 2018 Over the past year, non-U.S. nationals (aliens) from Central America (primarily Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala) have comprised an increasingly larger share of asylum applicants in the United States. And more recently, a caravan of thousands of individuals from Honduras has been traveling north across the Guatemala-Mexico border, with many reportedly seeking to escape widespread gang and domestic violence in Honduras. Previously, federal courts and immigration authorities have considered when such circumstances may raise a viable claim for asylum or other forms of relief from removal. In June 2018, Attorney General (AG) Jeff Sessions ruled in Matter ofA-B- that aliens who fear gang or domestic violence in their home countries generally do not qualify for asylum based on those grounds-a ruling that is binding upon immigration authorities within both the Department of Justice (DOJ) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The decision may foreclose some claims of relief by asylum seekers, and subject more aliens apprehended along the border to expedited removal in lieu of the more formalized removal process available to aliens whose asylum claims are deemed sufficiently credible to warrant further review. This Legal Sidebar examines asylum claims based on gang and domestic violence, the AG's decision in Matter ofA-B-, and recent guidance from DHS's U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in light of that ruling. Asylum and Other Humanitarian-Based Forms of Relief from Removal Federal immigration law provides that certain aliens who might otherwise be removed from the United States may be granted relief because they would likely face persecution in their country of origin. Asylum is one of the most consequential avenues of relief for an alien, potentially affording the recipient with a permanent foothold in the United States. To qualify for asylum, an applicant has the burden of proving past persecution or a well-founded fear of future persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. The applicant must show that one of these protected grounds was or will be at least one central reason for persecuting the applicant. In the absence Congressional Research Service 7-5700 www.crs.gov LSB10207 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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