More and More Asylum Seekers Claiming Sexual Orientation as a Ground of Persecution
The New York Times reported today that asylum seekers are filing more claims based on sexual orientation.
The U.S. immigration laws allow aliens to be granted asylum if they can prove a well-founded fear of persecution in their country of origin because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group.
The claim of sexual orientation in asylum cases began in 1994 when the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) in the case of Matter of Toboso-Alfonso, 20 I&N Dec. 819 (BIA 1994) set the precedent that sexual orientation can be claimed as a basis for asylum.
Sexual orientation as a basis for asylum has not been used very much. However, recently, immigrant and gay activists have said that more asylum seekers from the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean where homosexuality is either outlawed or not tolerated on a social level, are claiming this as a ground for claiming asylum.
For more information including recent cases, click on the article .
