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More on Gao Cert Petition

By immigrationprof

We previously reported that the Solicitor General sought cert in a Second Circuit case involving a Chinese woman seeking asylum based on a forced marraige.  Click here.  The Christian Science Monitor has an interesting story about the case, which tells a bit about the facts: 

When Hong Ying Gao arrived in the US from China in 2001, she pleaded with authorities for asylum, expressing fear that if deported, she’d face abuse and even torture. But what separates Ms. Gao’s case from thousands of other asylum seekers is that her fear of abuse is not tied to iron-fisted tactics of the Chinese government. Rather, it stems from anticipated mistreatment at the hands of her future husband. At age 19, Gao was sold by her mother for the equivalent of $2,200 to become the wife of a man in her home village who, Gao says, will physically abuse her. Instead of facing that prospect, she fled China. Is Gao a legitimate refugee deserving US protection? Or should she be returned to China and a future husband who has already paid for her? An immigration judge said that Gao had no claim to asylum in the US. But an appeals court panel reversed that judgment, ruling that the woman had a valid fear of persecution and was entitled to remain in the US.

In the cert petition, US Solicitor General Paul Clement urges the high court to reverse the appeals court decision. Mr. Clement says the decision threatens to transform American asylum law into a worldwide haven for women trapped in potentially abusive relationships after being sold into forced marriages.   According to the SG, such policy decisions should be made by the executive branch, not unelected members of the judiciary. “The court of appeals’ error is especially significant because it reached out to identify a broad new category of aliens (women in arranged marriages) entitled to seek asylum,” the cert petition contends. The appeals court decision “has far-reaching ramifications for immigration policy in light of the fact that approximately 60 percent of marriages worldwide are arranged.”

KJ