CHAIN MIGRATION?

Barr Moves to Cut Off Asylum Claims Based on Family Ties

The attorney general overturned a decision that allowed the son of a Mexican cartel target to apply for asylum.

Attorney General William Barr moved to cut off asylum for those related to persecuted individuals by overturning a Board of Immigration Appeals decision on Monday, The Wall Street Journal reports. Barr reversed a decision that allowed the son of a Mexican cartel target to apply for asylum, and explained the son’s membership in a family did not make him eligible for asylum. “An applicant must establish that his specific family group is defined with sufficient particularity and is socially distinct in his society,” Barr said. “In the ordinary case, a family group will not meet that standard, because it will not have the kind of identifying characteristics that render the family socially distinct within the society in question.” Barr’s decision is reportedly similar to ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ ruling that gang and domestic violence victims would no longer be considered eligible for asylum. A federal judge blocked Sessions’ ruling, and Barr’s decision is likely to be challenged in court as well.