HRI recently won the cases of a 23-year-old Salvadoran woman and her 4-year-old daughter who sought asylum from severe domestic violence. Carolina began living with her partner when she was only 15, and the abuse started shortly thereafter. He abused her physically, emotionally, financially, and sexually, including when she was pregnant. She attempted to leave him on many occasions. She even moved in with her grandfather in another city, but eventually her partner used his gang connections to track her down and threaten her and her grandfather if she did not return to him. She called the police once when her partner took their daughter from her, but the police told her that they don’t get involved in “marital problems.”
On July 5, 2017, two years after Carolina entered the U.S. and after extensive written advocacy by HRI’s pro bono team, the government attorney agreed that Carolina merited withholding of removal and agreed to asylum for her daughter, so the judge granted those legal remedies without a trial!
-Mary Durbin, Asylum Program Attorney
