Attorney General Pam Bondi reportedly made decisions during President Trump’s administration that could make it harder for women fleeing domestic abuse to seek asylum in the U.S.
These orders could affect thousands of immigration cases across the country and are part of the Trump administration’s efforts to limit asylum protections.
The move reverses rules from President Joe Biden’s administration in 2021, which allowed migrants to seek refuge in the U.S. for various threats in their home countries, including domestic violence and religious persecution.
Bondi, 59, intervened in several cases to change the rules for granting asylum while leading the immigration-court system, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In one case, a woman from Honduras applied for asylum, saying she belonged to groups targeted in her country, including “Honduran women unable to leave a relationship” and “Honduran women who have shown resistance to male domination in society.” She said local police could not or would not protect these groups.
While the Board of Immigration Appeals has the final say, Bondi has the authority to step in and overrule previously allowed legal standards from Biden’s policy.
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Bondi also instructed the board to go back to criteria set by Attorney General Jeff Sessions in 2018 in the case called Matter of A-B-, according to the WSJ. Sessions served as Trump’s first Attorney General.
Bondi wrote in her opinion, “Although there may be circumstances when a government’s failure to control private conduct itself amounts to persecution,” the 2018 opinion was “entirely correct to treat those circumstances as few and far between.”
The decision comes amid mass deportations and pressure to close Alligator Alcatraz, an ICE detention facility in the Florida Everglades.
A judge in the Southern District of Florida ordered state officials to close the facility within 60 days on Aug. 22. Florida’s Miccosukee Tribe said the detention center affected their access to land and posed risks to their food and water.
However, on Thursday, Sept. 4, a three-judge federal panel in Atlanta voted 2-1 to temporarily block the Aug. 22 ruling while an appeal is pending, according to The Associated Press. This means the facility will continue holding detainees.
