A culture of violence against women is a main, but often overlooked, catalyst to an exodus of migrants from Central America, but the Trump administration is determined to deny them asylum in the United States, The New York Times reported Monday.
Latin America and the Caribbean are home to 14 of the 25 deadliest countries in the world for women, according to the Small Arms Survey, which tracks violence internationally.
"Despite the risk associated with migration, it is still lower than the risk of being killed at home," a U.N. official told the Times.
To obtain asylum in the U.S., applicants must demonstrate specific reasons for their persecution in their home nation, such as race, religion, or membership in a particular social group. Lawyers have sometimes been successful in arguing that women qualify as a social group because of the extraordinary violence they face.
But, in an effort to halt that trend, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a decision last year attempting to stop victims of domestic violence from seeking asylum by saying such women should not be considered as members of a social group.
Current Attorney General, William Barr last month tried to close the gates further by restricting the qualification, shutting out most asylum seekers who are fearful of persecution due to family ties, according to NBC News.
Barr has used the certification process to restrict the discretion of immigration judges and narrow asylum law.
These legal decisions have now thrown into doubt the asylum claims of thousands of such victims of domestic violence who have managed to make the arduous journey to the U.S.