Attorney General Merrick Garland has struck down two immigration opinions penned by his AG predecessors under the Trump administration, reversing limits on who is eligible for asylum.
Orders he signed Wednesday vacate earlier decisions from former attorneys general that limited asylum for victims of domestic violence as well as those seeking asylum based on gang violence.
The move follows pressure from open border advocacy groups to review and reverse all 17 attorney general-level immigration court decisions made under the Trump administration.
Both the decisions vacated by Garland limited who could qualify for asylum as a member of a “particular social group.” In one case, Barr blocked asylum claims for those who sought it based on a family member’s persecution.
But Garland wrote that Barr’s decision was “inconsistent with the decisions of several courts of appeals that have recognized families as particular social groups,” reports the Hill.
Garland also nixed an AG Sessions decision with regard to domestic violence victims that he said “threatens to create confusion and discourage careful case-by-case adjudication of asylum claims.”
Under the Trump administration, DOJ in a joint rule with the Department of Homeland Security sought to limit overreaching asylum protections and bogus asylum claims with these regulations — something open border advocates and supporters of uncontrolled mass immigration hope Biden will soon rescind.
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