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Disgraceful Acting Attorney General Seeks to End Asylum for Victims of Domestic Violence, Child Sex Abuse
Matt Whitaker is a disgrace to our JUSTICE Department. He is a disrespectful person who does not believe in the rule of law, has committed fraud himself, and illegally works for Trump rather than on behalf of the American people. We have no idea how he went from a nobody criminal stealing money from old women to acting Attorney General. What a disaster.
Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker is considering blocking one of the last avenues for victims of domestic violence, including children, to be granted asylum in the U.S. Whitaker said in an order last month he would determine “whether and under what circumstances” being a member of a family qualifies for family-based asylum....
Already, Whitaker’s predecessor Jeff Sessions tried to remove asylum eligibility for victims of gang and domestic violence, with his own self-referral that is now partially on hold thanks to a federal judge’s ruling last month.
Immigration attorneys fear Whitaker will drastically narrow the definition and remove protections for victims of domestic and other intra-familial violence, including child victims of sexual assault and abuse.
More broadly, the Trump administration has made it harder for people to seek asylum by forcing migrants to apply at crowded ports of entry and making them “remain in Mexico” while their cases are tried.
“Other than this is part of a systematic plan to attack the rights of asylum seekers, it’s hard to say what the justification of doing this now is.” - Immigration attorney Eileen Sterlock
If Whitaker determines familial relationships do not qualify for particular social group membership, it will “erode one of the most-used ways that domestic violence victims attempt to apply for asylum,” said Sterlock, the immigration attorney.
Domestic violence victims often make family-based PSG claims because their attacker is a member of their family. The Department of Homeland Security and several circuit courts have agreed that this is an appropriate use of the claim to obtain asylum, a position Whitaker appears likely to challenge.
This is massive overreach by Republicans as they succeed in a hostile takeover of the Justice Department by the Attorney General (or acting one) referring decisions to themselves then deciding whatever they want. HOW IS THAT DEMOCRATIC?
It is not unusual for an attorney general to refer a decision to himself, but the practice has been used more than ever before since Trump took office.
Attorneys general referred decisions to themselves... just four times during the entire Obama administration [4 times in 8 years].... In the past two years, Sessions referred six decisions to himself, with Whitaker referring two to himself within weeks of Sessions’ resignation.
As part of the above, Whitaker is working on Trump and Stephen Miller's behalf, in the most devious ways no one has ever thought of before, to keep asylum seekings in jail forever. Pure evil.
Indefinite detention will cause many asylum-seekers to simply give up on their cases and agree to deportation, said Carlos Spector, an El Paso immigration attorney who specializes in asylum cases.
“Where [the Trump administration] is also brilliant and evil geniuses is, it’s a two-tiered attack,” Spector said. “One is the public dimension, the things that catch the eye of the public like locking up families, locking up kids, not letting asylum-seekers into the the country to exercise their rights—but the real danger is what Trump does with the regulatory schemes. What they’re doing are these internal, non-sexy, tweaking of the legal structure like revoking bond which, unless you’re an attorney doing this stuff every day, most people won’t notice.”
It just keeps getting worse and the news certainly isn't covering any of this.