A new light to Asylum Law

"I lift my lamp beside the golden door" only to find that in the last four years, the Trump Administration had all but shut the door on asylum seekers. On December 11, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice published the final text of a rule amending laws governing the U.S. asylum process. If the Rule were enforced it could potentially impact the ability of LGBT asylum claimants to seek relief because the new rule excludes “gender” as an admissible claim for membership in a particular social group. This could allow an immigration judge to deny asylum claims linked to persecution fears based on gender identity.

Fortunately, earlier this year, the Northern District Court of California ordered an injunction preventing the enforcement of the new rule. The case is Pangea Legal Services II v. DHS. Hopefully, the new rule will be removed from Federal Regulations (CFR) under the new administration.