AG Reverses BIA in FGM Case

The Attorney General vacated the decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals and remanded the record for reconsideration of questions relating to the respondent’s eligibility for withholding of removal pursuant based on her claim that she has been subjected to female genital mutilation. Matter of A-T-, Interim Decision #3622, 24 I&N Dec. 617 (A.G. 2008), Sept. 22, 2008.   The Board had denied A-T- relief on the ground that, because she had already suffered female genital mutilation, she did not have a well-founded fear of future persecution.

For a sampling of news stories on the case, click here and here.

The Attorney General rarely intervenes in a BIA case and this ruling is welcomed by many.  Still, I am left to wonder whether the generosity in this case has anything to do with the fact that it is an election year.

KJ