Domestic Violence Threat High Bar to Deportation

Posted October 26, 2010 in Immigration by Arthur Buono
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For a battered El Salvadoran woman facing deportation, Department of Homeland Security assurances that conditions for women have improved in her country are no comfort. Irma Medrano’s lawyers say her husband is awaiting her deportation to El Salvador, and they fear for her safety. Despite this, her deportation is imminent.

     
  • El Salvadoran who fled abusive husband facing deportation
  • Systemic violence against women grounds for asylum
  • State report contradicts DHS assurance of improved conditions
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Opposing Views of Threats to Women in El Salvador

Medrano entered the country illegally while fleeing her violent husband. She obtained temporary refugee status for unrelated reasons. Two misdemeanor traffic convictions revoked that. Her deportation’s been pending since 2006. She was just taken into custody during her weekly meeting at a local immigration office.

There’s tension between the country’s immigration laws, the personal safety of immigrants, and conflicting government assessments of country conditions. Immigrants may be granted asylum if they can show a systemic threat to their personal safety exists in their home country. Tolerance of violence against women or an inability to prevent it are asylum grounds. But asylum won’t be granted just because a woman’s being stalked by her abuser.

An immigration judge has accepted DHS’s assertions that conditions in El Salvador have changed. Medrano’s lawyers disagree. They say a State Department report warns rape is widespread in El Salvador. Rape laws aren’t enforced effectively. Domestic violence remains socially acceptable. So we have two government departments with different views of the rule of law in El Salvador. In what might prove a matter of life or death, which opinion should count more?

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