Readers React: Battered women deserve a safe haven in the U.S.

To the editor: In 1939, the U.S. returned the Jewish passengers of the liner St. Louis to Germany, where many perished. Our current refugee protection system came into existence to prevent the return of those fleeing persecution to their deaths. (“In a world full of persecution, how many people can the U.S. protect?,” Editorial, Sept. 15)

Around the world, women are beaten and killed by their spouses with absolute impunity, and they, like those who fled the Holocaust, deserve protection. Your editorial blames these women for marrying abusive men rather than recognizing that domestic violence is rooted in patriarchy and brutal discrimination against women in countries that tolerate this violence.

Rather than denying protection to survivors of domestic violence, we should work with the governments of their countries on adopting and applying laws that prevent and punish gender violence. The question is not should the U.S. “make itself a safe harbor for domestic abuse victims everywhere,” but how can we refuse safety to those who have fled for their lives.

Karen Musalo, San Francisco

The writer is director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at UC Hastings College of the Law.

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To the editor: So American citizens are led to believe that women from Guatemala have to travel more than 1,000 miles to the United States to flee domestic abuse?

Why not simply go a few hundred miles south to Costa Rica, which has no standing military and free public schools, and where the people speak the same language?

Let’s be honest about this.

Bob Launius, Oxnard

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To the editor: The Times mischaracterizes asylum law in the United States with respect to victims of domestic violence and U.S. obligations to protect them. Protection for women subjected to egregious abuse did not originate with the Board of Immigration Appeals’ recent decision, which articulates a position the Department of Homeland Security has held since 2004, one that over the last 10 years has not led to a “flood” of asylum claims.

All asylum claims are fact-driven and evaluated case by case. Whatever the basis for the harm, an applicant must also show that it rises to the level of persecution, that her government will not protect her and that internal relocation would not be a reasonable solution.

All Americans should expect the United States to protect without discrimination refugees who qualify, including victims of domestic violence, as is our obligation under domestic and international law.

Yes, there are many battered women in the world. There are also millions of people persecuted for their faith, their political beliefs or the color of their skin.

Their legal eligibility for protection, established for decades, does not hinge on whether the international community can “handle” them.

Anwen Hughes, New York

The writer is senior counsel and deputy legal director for refugee representation at Human Rights First.

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