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              Congressional                                             ______
            **Research Service






Asylum and Related Protections for Aliens

Who Fear Gang and Domestic Violence



Updated January 15, 2019
Update: On December  19, 2018, following publication of this Sideba, the federal district court for the
District of Columbia ruled that several of the policies set forth in the Attorney General's decision in
Matter of A-B- and US. Citizenship and Immigration Service's (USCIS) policy memorandum issued in
light of that decision - including their general conclusion that claims based on gang or domestic violence
fail to establish a credible fear ofpersecution - conflicted with provisions of the Immigration and
Nationality Act (INA) and impermissibly heightened the standards for credible fear screenings.
Accordingly, the court granted the plaintiffs'motion for a permanent injunction and enjoined USCIS from
applying these policies with respect to credible fear determinations. The district court's decision and any
forthcoming decision on appeal will be subject to further analysis as the case develops.

The  original post from October 25, 2018, follows below.

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.




                                                                Congressional Research Service
                                                                  https://crsreports.congress.gov
                                                                                    LSB10207

 CRS Legal Sidebar
 Prepared for Members and
 Committees of Congress

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