*QL-ED*: SA 420: DEADLINE NEARS FOR ASSYLUM CLAIMS BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION
Aloha awakea kakou.
To: Rex Wockner
From: "Heather H. McClure" <<hmcclure@merle.acns.nwu.edu>
Subject: Preparing Sexual Orientation-Based Asylum Claims
Dear Mr. Wockner:
Trudy Ring recommended I forward to you the following press release. We
are attempting to disseminate this information to gay/lesbian press
nationwide, however, we are very constrained budget-wise, and I do not
have the funds to fax everyone. I would be very appreciative for any
assistance you could offer regarding the distribution of the attached
press release (or portions of it relating to the April 1 deadline and our
handbook). (I have included the text below and an attachment of the file
in ASCII). We are most concerned that potential gay and lesbian
asylum-seekers, who are not aware of the pending April 1 filing deadline,
could fall through the cracks.
Thank you in advance for your consideration of my request. I hope you are
well.
Sincerely,
Heather McClure
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS: Lavi Soloway
(212) 227-9390
Heather McClure
(312) 629-4500 ext. 4531
RACING AGAINST THE APRIL 1st ASYLUM FILING DEADLINE:
INNOVATIVE PUBLICATION OFFERS SUPPORT IN PREPARING
SEXUAL ORIENTATION-BASED ASYLUM CLAIMS
(January 26, 1998) -- Persecution against sexual minorities is a
tragically routine occurence throughout the world. Consider how in
Islamic fundamentalist countries, homosexuality may be punished by the
death penalty; in Russia and China, homosexuals are subject to
electroshock therapy to convert them into heterosexuals; and in several
Latin American countries, death squads hunt and exterminate homosexuals as
part of their "social cleansing" efforts. This persecution goes unpunished
when the government inflicts or condones the abuse or mistreatment.
Without legal redress available, many victims flee to the United States
for safety given the relatively better treatment and rule of law they can
find here against such violations.
Homosexuals who have experienced or fear persecution in their homelands
have been eligible for asylum in the United States as members of a
particular social group since June, 1994 when
<underline>Toboso-Alfonso</underline>, 20 I&N Dec. 819 (BIA 1990), the
Board of Immigration Appeals case involving a Cuban gay asylum-seeker, was
designated as precedent.
On April 1, 1998, an unprecedented one-year filing deadline on
asylum claims will take effect, requiring that all asylum applicants file
within one year of arrival in the United States unless they can prove
"exceptional circumstances" for their failure to file.
Concerned that sexual minorities will fall through the cracks
without greater outreach and education to advocates and the gay and
lesbian community, the Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
and the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force have produced the
innovative, practical publication entitled Preparing Sexual
Orientation-Based Asylum Claims: A Handbook for Advocates and
Asylum-Seekers.
Authored by Heather McClure, Christopher Nugent and Lavi Soloway,
the 178-page handbook provides an in-depth focus on preparing affirmative
applications for asylum by gays and lesbians, and insightful information
and resources to aid sexual minority asylum-seekers and their advocates in
the preparation and representation of bonafide asylum claims.
Foregrounding the needs of sexual minority asylum-seekers, the
handbook includes chapters on the history of asylum based on sexual
orientation; client-centered approaches to working with the applicant;
techniques to raise relevant information and facilitate the client's
informed decision of whether to file; step-by-step preparation of the
application and the client's affidavit; guidelines and resources for
securing supporting documentation for sexual orientation-based claims;
considerations when preparing the client to testify; and further resources
for legal, social, medical and psychological support for the
asylum-seeker. The handbook also addresses legal concerns for HIV-positive
asylum-seekers.
The handbook is a component of the Emergency Asylum Campaign
launched by the Lesbian and Gay Immigration Rights Task Force and the
International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission to alert potential gay
and lesbian asylum-seekers to the April 1st deadline.
Asylum claims by gays or lesbians have been rare with less than
two hundred identified by the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights
Commission in San Francisco. There are several reasons for the low numbers
of these asylum claims: clients' unfamiliarity with their eligibility to
apply; reluctance to disclose their fears based on their sexual
orientation to a lawyer in this "foreign" land; and advocates'
difficulties in eliciting from clients such relevant information or, once
discovered, the difficulties in evaluating or developing asylum claims.
"It is our hope that the handbook will serve as an invaluable
resource to get the word out to potential asylum-seekers about the April
1st filing deadline and to support practitioners' rigorous evaluation,
preparation and representation of gay and lesbian asylum-seekers before
Asylum Offices nationwide," said Christopher Nugent.
<underline>Preparing Sexual Orientation-Based Asylum Claims: A Handbook
for Advocates and Asylum-Seekers</underline> is available through the
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights at (312) 629-4500 ext.
4531.
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