If you’re seeking asylum in the US, forget it

Sri Lankans seeking political asylum in the United States be warned. The US is getting increasingly tougher in providing asylum both on political and religious grounds – and even on grounds of human rights violations in the home country.

And if the applicant is found to have ties to a “terrorist organisation” either as a supporter or being “forced to work” for such an outfit – be it ISIS or the LTTE—the US will reject such applications for asylum.

Last week a US court ruled against the asylum application of a woman who was kidnapped in 1990 by guerrillas in El Salvador. They killed her husband and forced her to cook and clean for them. She made her way to the US and applied for asylum, but a court says she should not get it and has to leave -- because her forced labour is considered providing help to terrorists.

The controversial ruling, according to CNN, was issued by an immigration court run by the Justice Department. US law doesn’t recognise a difference between voluntary or involuntary “material support” for terrorist groups, Board of Immigration Appeals Judge Roger Pauley wrote. The dissenting judge said that’s just a “crazy interpretation” of the law. But the woman can appeal.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has also said it will reject all applicants who are seeking asylum because of domestic violence such as being beaten up by their husbands—even though such abuses are categorised as human rights violations.

But in Canada, a woman being forced into an “arranged marriage” in her home country, was a legitimate case for political asylum. At least one beneficiary was a woman from Saudi Arabia.