A Look at Domestic Violence Related Asylum Cases

  Last month,  a Guatemalan woman, N-S-, won her domestic violence based asylum case after seven years in the United States immigration court system.  Her case is similar to the story of many other women who flee their countries in order to receive protection from their abusive husbands. Until recently, courts rejected these types of claims, arguing that their issues were personal, not cultural issues (see Sinha 2001). Now, with the help of organizations like the Center for Gender and...