U.S. To Consider Domestic Abuse As Grounds For Asylum

There’s good news for victims of domestic abuse seeking asylum in the U.S.

FOX News Radio’s Tonya J. Powers has more. 

It’s a big deal, because it’s the first time for such a ruling and comes in the case of a Guatemalan woman who came into the U.S. illegally in 2005, after leaving her husband.

She says she called the local police in Guatemala and told them about the abuse, but they told her they wouldn’t interfere.

After legal wrangling in the U.S., the immigration board said as a married Guatemalan woman who couldn’t leave her relationship, she was part of a particular social group.

It’s not immediately clear how the ruling will affect thousands of pending asylum cases and others that could be filed, now that the government has recognized domestic violence victims as a potential class of persecuted people.

Tonya J. Powers, FOX News Radio.