The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

New Report Says U.S. Turns Its Back on Female Refugees

Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 1/22/2003

In a new report, "Refugee Women at Risk," the Lawyers Committee on Human Rights (LCHR) details the U.S. government's "unfair" treatment of refugee women seeking asylum in the United States. Using first-hand accounts of 13 women, LCHR shows that after managing to escape egregious human rights violations in their respective countries, these women have been, "detained, deported summarily, or otherwise treated unfairly."

This plight of refugee women in America became especially dire after September 11. The INS's detention authority has been increased, while the immigration appeals process was greatly reduced. Further complicating matter is the impending transfer of the INS's immigration functions to the Department of Homeland Security.

However, even before September 11, the U.S. government was making the immigration of refugee women particularly difficult. While America has a history of protecting refugees, LCHR argues the "Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996" as having rolled back much of that power. The report highlights exceptionally harsh barriers created by the law, including:

• An "expedited removal" process which allows INS inspectors at airports and borders - rather than trained immigration judges - to direct the immediate deportation of anyone who arrives in the U.S. lacking proper travel documents;
  
• "Mandatory detention" of asylum seekers who are subject to the expedited process.
  
• A filing deadline that precludes most asylum claims not filed within one year of a refugee's arrival.

LCHR considers women to be "already among the most vulnerable of the already-vulnerable refugee population." Many come in the US because of maltreatment in forms of such as "forced marriage, rape, forced abortion, domestic violence, and other gender-related violence."

The 24-page report concludes with the reforms necessary to restore America's position as an equitable safe haven for those fleeing human rights violations.

• Re-establishing due process and leaving deportation decisions to trained immigration judges.
  
• Changing asylum parole procedures and providing for immigration judge review of INS parole denials.
  
• Finding alternatives to detention for asylum seekers who present no threat to the community.
  
• Abolishing the one-year filing deadline.
  
• Restricting expedited removal to immigration emergencies.
  
• Improving the conduct of "secondary" inspection by immigration authorities.

These reforms would greatly improve a present system where, as Eleanor Acer, Director of the Asylum Program at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, explains, "a woman fleeing from domestic violence is detained, and forced to choose between a lengthy separation for her young child and abandoning her claim for refuge."