After reading a great many articles about asylum seekers and even talking to one person who had applied for it I am still amazed at what it takes for one to be granted asylum.

In this case you have a natural disaster which forces a family apart, dad moves to the U.S. to make a living leaving three children, ages 12, 14 and 15, to live with family. All sounds good right? Well turns out a cousin is molesting the two older girls and the younger boy is being physically abused by another family member.

Videla said all three “were beaten on a regular basis and the girls were sexually violated. They were targeted and taken advantage of because they could not protect themselves and they could look to no one to fight for them.”

The kids run-off to the states to be with their father, however they are caught on the way there and end up in immigration court.

“I was always afraid that immigration would come and try to deport us and separate our family,”

An attorney was hired who filed an asylum case on behalf of the three kids and, surprisingly, they won. When I say surprisingly I really really mean it, if that doesn’t convince you this should:

Attorney David Sperling ultimately succeeded in convincing authorities that the children qualified for asylum under a legal term identifying them as members of a “social group” that was targeted for persecution. They were targeted, he argued, because relatives knew the children’s parents were in no position to protect them.

The judge agreed.

“It was a very, very long shot,” Sperling said. “Everyone told us that we would never win a case like that and in fact to my knowledge there’s never been a case like this in the history of immigration law.”

“They have shown to the court’s satisfaction,” Videla wrote, “that their membership in this particular social group was a central reason for their persecution and therefore have met their burden. The children’s vulnerability was the motivation for their caretakers to exploit, abuse and persecute them.”

So if the proof of this “social group” was lacking and all we were left with was three underage children who are being sexually molested and physically abused, would these factors alone not be enough to grant asylum?

It is quite a scary thought to think that to some people there actually exists an alternative option for these kids in this situation.  It is an even scarier thought knowing that the worst case scenario is usually the reality of these cases.

Link to article

Immigration system is broken: 501 v Immigration system is not broken: still 0