(U.S.) Reconsideration of Asylum Petition Granted in Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) Case
— fears that younger daughter will be mutilated in Indonesia
— Feminist News reports:
— “The decision (see PDF) reversed the Bureau of Immigration Appeal’s (BIA) decision that found the FGM performed on the family’s eldest daughter did not constitute past persecution and that the mutilation did not result in serious harm. The appeals court ruling stated, ‘the BIA’s attempt to parse the distinction between differing forms of female genital mutilation is not only a threat to the rights of women in a civilized society, but also runs counter to [established] precedent.'”

— San Francisco Chronicle: Genital mutilation grounds for asylum bid
— “The court returned the case to the immigration board to decide whether the younger daughter faced a likelihood of genital mutilation in Indonesia. If so, the board must decide whether the entire family is eligible for asylum or whether the parents and their daughters might instead be sent to Venezuela, the mother’s native country. The younger daughter was born there.”
— “Robert Ryan, an attorney in San Francisco who represents the family, said the court had corrected a series of legal errors by the immigration judges, including their downplaying of the older daughter’s trauma. ‘There’s no such thing as mild female genital mutilation,’ he said.”