Litigation Support in Domestic Violence Cases

Since the issuance of the Attorney General’s decision in Matter of A-B- in June 2018, further guidance from the courts has been slow in coming.  The case of A-B- herself remains pending at the BIA.  After initially relying on the A.G.’s decision to deny domestic violence-based asylum cases that were already pending at the time A-B- was issued, the Board has more recently remanded at least some cases for the immigration judge to determine in the first instance whether gender alone may constitute a cognizable particular social group.  Several promising circuit court cases await the issuance of decisions, but there have also been negative outcomes, most recently in the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion in Amezcua-Preciado v. U.S. Att’y Gen., No. 18-14788 (11th Cir. Dec. 3, 2019).

Those attorneys filing petitions for review in circuit courts in cases impacted by Matter of A-B- are asked to reach out to the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies.  CGRS seeks to track cases on this topic moving forward in the circuits, and to provide amicus support in select cases in hopes of persuading courts not to defer to the Attorney General’s suggested approach to such cases as stated in A-B-.

For attorneys filing such claims at the asylum office and  immigration court levels, CGRS also provides free assistance and supporting materials, including a database of expert witnesses.  It is critical to create good records at the immigration court level, as bad records may lead to bad precedent. Attorneys are also requested to inform CGRS of case outcomes (both positive and negative) to allow for tracking of trends nationally and the impact of various arguments and materials.  Requests for assistance on A-B- related claims should be sent to cgrs-abtracking@uchastings.edu.