BIA: Parent Not Automatically Eligible for Asylum Based on Child’s Possible FGM

The contours of asylum claims for feared female genital mutilation continue to be defined by the courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals.  In Matter of A-K-, Interim Decision #3579 24 I&N Dec. 275 (BIA Sept. 5, 2007), the Board ruled that “[a]n alien may not establish eligibility for asylum or withholding of removal based solely on fear that his or her daughter will be harmed by being forced to undergo female genital mutilation upon returning to the alien’s home country.”

KJ