Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey rebuked a mid-level federal court, ruling that the court must reconsider the asylum case of a Mali woman who fears genital mutilation if sent home.
It is rare for the nation's top law enforcement officer to reject rulings issued by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. In the past three years, the attorney general has weighed in on three immigration cases; U.S. immigration courts rule on about 40,000 cases each year.
28-year-old Alima Traore has lived in the United States since 2000. She arrived on a tourist visa and stayed on a student visa, attending college and studying nursing. Her student visa expired in 2003. She said she could be forced to marry a cousin if she returned to Mali, and would be powerless to prevent tribal officials from mutilating the genitals of any daughters she might have in the future.
The immigration appeals panel previously has ruled that fear of female genital mutilation is solid basis for granting asylum (See the Kassindja Case). Yet, the board had denied asylum to the her, last year and again in April. In doing so, it noted that Ms. Traore’s genitals had been cut as a child and said that while “reprehensible,” the mutilation could not be repeated.
Mr. Mukasey called that basis flawed. “As several courts have recognized, female genital mutilation is indeed capable of repetition,” Mr. Mukasey’s order said.
However, Mukasey's order does not automatically grant U.S. residency to the woman.
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