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cgrsasylum.bsky.social
CGRS
@cgrsasylum.bsky.social
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The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) advocates for the rights of women, children, and LGBTQ+ #refugees. 🦋 cgrs.uclawsf.edu
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cgrsasylum.bsky.social
NEW: SCOTUS just granted the Trump admin’s request to review a 9th Circuit decision in our case challenging the government’s prior asylum turnback policy: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/en/news/scot... @alotrolado-org.bsky.social @immcouncil.org @democracyforward.org @ccrjustice.org @icapgeorgetown.bsky.social
Black and white photo of child at border fence. Text reads, "SCOTUS Grants Review of Ninth Circuit Decision Holding Turnbacks of Asylum Seekers Unlawful" Quote reads: "The issue before the Court is whether noncitizens seeking safety at ports of entry along the U.S. southern border have a legal right to apply for asylum in the United States. As the Ninth Circuit correctly concluded, our immigration laws require the government to inspect and process people seeking asylum at ports of entry and allow them to pursue their legal claims in the United States. The government’s turnback policy was an illegal scheme to circumvent these requirements by physically blocking asylum seekers arriving at ports of entry and preventing them from crossing the border to seek protection. Vulnerable families, children, and adults fleeing persecution were stranded in perilous conditions where they faced violent assault, kidnapping, and death. We look forward to presenting our case to the Court.”
November 17, 2025 at 2:54 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
BREAKING: Last night AG Bondi reinstated regressive rulings from the first Trump admin in an attempt to end asylum for women and families seeking refuge.

“This is a brazen power grab by Trump’s Justice Department," CGRS Director @karenmusalo.bsky.social says: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/en/news/trum...
Photo of family at border wall; overlay text reads: "Trump Slams the Door on Women and Families" Quote from CGRS Director Karen Musalo reads: "“This is a brazen power grab by Trump’s Justice Department - an attempt to rewrite our laws to deny protection to women and families escaping deadly violence. Bondi’s decision in S-S-F-M- attempts to turn back the clock on decades of hard-fought progress to recognize domestic and other forms of gendered violence as violations of women’s human rights. Her ruling in R-E-R-M- & J-D-R-M- is a calculated strategy to end asylum for families who deserve protection. We will continue to fight for a fair and just interpretation of our refugee law, in compliance with our international legal obligations, and will see the administration back in court.”
September 3, 2025 at 8:51 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
The Trump admin's recent asylum ruling is part of a broader assault on women’s rights and immigrant rights, our director @karenmusalo.bsky.social writes for @latimes.com.

The decision will make it far more difficult for refugee women and girls to find safety.

www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...
Screenshot of LA Times headline of op-ed by Karen Musalo reads, "Under Trump, U.S. returns to treating violence against women as a "private matter," paired with photo of woman holding sign with illustration of woman walking along road to a entry titled "asilo USA" with butterfly; text reads "El asilo es una esperanza no cierres tu corazon!!" Screenshot of excerpt from LA Times op-ed reads: "The U.S. has been waffling for decades over whether women have a right to refugee protection when fleeing gender-based violence. Under different administrations, the Department of Justice has established and reversed precedents, issued and repealed rulings. But the latest flip-flop by the Trump administration is not just another toggle between rules. In July, the Trump administration’s high court of immigration, the Board of Immigration Appeals, issued a deeply troubling decision. The ruling held that a “particular social group” — one of the five grounds for refugee protection — cannot be defined by gender, or by gender combined with nationality. The ruling, in a case known as Matter of K-E-S-G-, is binding on all adjudicators across the country. The legal reasoning is both unpersuasive and alarming. It seeks to return refugee law to an era when violence against women was dismissed as a private matter, not of concern to governments or human rights institutions. It is part of a broader, ongoing assault by the Trump administration on women’s rights and immigrant rights — in this case, attempting to turn back history to 1992."
August 4, 2025 at 7:35 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
BREAKING: Today the Justice Department issued a decision declaring that refugees fleeing gender-based violence may no longer qualify for asylum.

Its clear intent is to give judges a basis to reject women’s cases without considering them fairly.

Our statement: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/trump-l...
Photo of mother and child holding sign that reads, "Ya Basta de Deportaciones." Overlay text reads, "Justice Department Launches Attack on Refugee Women" Quote from CGRS Legal Director Blaine Bookey reads, "With the stroke of a pen, the administration is attempting to erase decades of progress and drag us back to an era where the persecution of women and girls was seen as inevitable and irrelevant to our refugee protection system. But Trump’s Justice Department cannot distort the law to achieve its political ends. We will continue to fight for our client and for all women and girls who turn to the United States for refuge, who have a legal right to seek asylum and have their claims considered fairly under our laws."
July 18, 2025 at 8:13 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
BREAKING: Today a federal court struck down the Trump admin's shutdown of asylum at the southern border.

Statement w/@aclu.org @immigrantjustice.bsky.social @txcivilrights.bsky.social @raicestexas.bsky.social @lasamericasiac.bsky.social @florenceproject.bsky.social: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/federal...
Photo of demonstrator holding sign that says, "Asilo Ya." Overlay text reads, "Court Strikes Down Trump Shutdown of Asylum at the Border" Quote from CGRS Senior Staff Attorney Edith Sangüeza reads, "Under our laws, any person seeking safety at our southern border has a legal right to apply for asylum. The government cannot wield racist, baseless claims of an ‘invasion’ to demonize refugees and unilaterally strip them of that right. For over six months, the illegal border proclamation has wrought nothing but suffering and chaos, forcing people fleeing persecution back to peril and leaving others stuck in detention, struggling to navigate a made-up process. The administration should now comply with the court’s order and immediately reinstate a fair asylum process at the southern border."
July 2, 2025 at 8:47 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
Today the Trump admin terminated #TPS for Haiti 🇭🇹 - putting half a million people at risk of deportation to a country mired in deadly violence.

The decision "amounts to a death sentence for many of our Haitian neighbors,” our Legal Director Blaine Bookey says: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/cgrs-de...
Photo of women waving Haitian flags. Overlay text reads, "CGRS Decries Termination of TPS for Haiti" Quote from CGRS Legal Director Blaine Bookey reads, "In its announcement, DHS absurdly declares that the ‘situation in Haiti has improved enough that it is safe for Haitian citizens to return home.’ Having worked with partners on the ground in Haiti for the last 20 years, I can say with certainty this is a bald-faced lie. If deported, many Haitians currently residing in the United States will have no home to which they can return at all. Mass deportations will only create more instability in Haiti, exacerbating the country’s mounting displacement crisis and undermining the efforts of partners working to restore peace, at grave risk to their own safety. And those sent back will be particularly vulnerable to harm, in a country where deportees are routinely preyed upon by gangs and threatened by the authorities. The decision to terminate TPS for Haiti was clearly motivated not by reality, but by the deep-seated anti-Black racism that the president and his allies have for years wielded in despicable attacks on Haitian immigrants and refugees."
June 27, 2025 at 11:08 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
This #FathersDay, the families of those disappeared to El Salvador’s CECOT prison are missing their dads, sons, and partners, unsure if they will see them again.

#FamiliesBelongTogether and free.

Take action with @nilc.org to demand their safe return: bit.ly/cecotaction #BringThemBack
June 15, 2025 at 6:40 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
​​“Sen. Padilla @padilla.senate.gov attended a public press conference seeking answers on behalf of the millions of Californians he represents," CGRS Director @karenmusalo.bsky.social said today. "The Trump admin used violent force to silence him."

Our response: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/cgrs-co...
Quote from CGRS Director Karen Musalo reads: "​​Today’s assault on Senator Padilla is totally unacceptable. Senator Padilla attended a public press conference seeking answers on behalf of the millions of Californians he represents, including constituents who have been grievously harmed in the administration’s escalating attacks on immigrant communities and protestors exercising their First Amendment rights. Rather than answer the senator’s questions, the Trump administration used violent force to silence him. The treatment of Senator Padilla is consistent with this administration’s pattern of using force and intimidation against elected officials and judges exercising their responsibilities under the Constitution. We urge every member of Congress and elected officials at all levels of government to condemn this shocking assault on Senator Padilla.”
June 12, 2025 at 11:12 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
BREAKING: We just filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump admin's unlawful asylum shutdown policy, with partners at @alotrolado-org.bsky.social, @haitianbridge.bsky.social, @immcouncil.org, @democracyforward.org, and @ccrjustice.org.

Our joint statement: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/asylum-...
Image of border fence. Overlay text reads, "Asylum Seekers Challenge Trump's Asylum Shutdown Policy." Includes logos for Al Otro Lado, Haitian Bridge Alliance, CGRS, American Immigration Council, Democracy Forward, Center for Constitutional Rights Quote from CGRS Litigation Director Melissa Crow reads, "The asylum shutdown policy imperils the lives of people seeking safety at the southern border and flouts our immigration laws. Under the shutdown policy, families, children, and adults fleeing persecution have been left stranded in Mexico, where they risk grave harm, with no legal recourse. Our plaintiffs include asylum seekers who, while awaiting a chance to request asylum at ports of entry, have been kidnapped, tortured, and threatened by cartels that prey on migrants. The court must step in to vacate the shutdown policy and restore access to a fair asylum process at the U.S.-Mexico border."
June 11, 2025 at 9:57 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
This week CGRS, with @rfkhumanrights.bsky.social and other partners, filed a request with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, seeking emergency precautionary measures to halt enforced disappearances to El Salvador's CECOT mega-prison.

Learn more: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/groups-...
Photo of protest against disappearances to El Salvador. Overlay text reads: "BREAKING: IN AN EMERGENCY FILING AGAINST EL SALVADOR, WE ARE SEEKING RELEASE FROM INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION OF PEOPLE FORCIBLY DISAPPEARED FROM THE U.S." Quote from CGRS Staff Attorney Julie Bourdoiseau reads: "Those disappeared to CECOT have been ripped from their homes and families, imprisoned in deplorable conditions, with no due process and no recourse. These include people who came to the United States seeking refuge from persecution and state repression, only to suffer further abuses at the hands of the Trump and Bukele administrations. Our governments must not be allowed to operate above the law. This illegal scheme must end."
May 10, 2025 at 1:19 AM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
⚖️Victory! Today a federal court struck down key parts of a Biden admin rule severely restricting asylum.

We're proud to represent @lasamericasiac.bsky.social @raicestexas.bsky.social w/co-counsel @aclu.org @immigrantjustice.bsky.social @txcivilrights.bsky.social.

cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/distric...
Photo of family at border fence. Overlay text reads, "Court Strikes Down Biden-Era Asylum Restrictions" Quote from Melissa Crow, CGRS Director of Litigation, reads: "Today's decision recognizes the Biden-era border rule was yet another unlawful attempt to deprive people fleeing persecution of eligibility for asylum. As evidenced by our plaintiffs' experiences, the rule emboldened border officers to ignore explicit expressions of fear and to intimidate or mislead asylum seekers into giving up their claims for protection. Many people seeking safety were summarily deported to danger, and family members were separated despite having identical claims. This decision affirms that no president can rewrite our asylum laws by executive fiat."
May 9, 2025 at 10:56 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
Yesterday a federal court granted an emergency stay blocking the Trump admin's reimplementation of the Remain in Mexico policy.

We're proud to represent @immdef.bsky.social in this case, along with @nipnlg.bsky.social @innovationlawlab.bsky.social.

Our statement: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/court-b...
Photo of woman holding "Si al asilo" sign with butterflies. Overlay text reads, "Court blocks Remain in Mexico reimplementation" Quote from CGRS Litigation Director Melissa Crow reads: “From day one, the Remain in Mexico policy has been an illegal scheme to subvert the right to seek asylum and to sabotage organizations like ImmDef working to protect their clients’ due process rights in unworkable and dangerous conditions of the government’s own making. This week the court rejected the government’s attempts to defend an indefensible policy that violates our laws and endangers the lives of people seeking safety. We look forward to securing an end to Remain in Mexico, once and for all.”
April 17, 2025 at 6:55 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
Hoy, el presidente salvadoreño Nayib Bukele visitó la Casa Blanca. Allí, Bukele y Trump se mantuvieron firmes en su plan ilegal que ha resultado en la desaparición de más de 280 personas en la notoria mega prisión CECOT de El Salvador.

Nuestra declaración completa: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/bukele-...
“El gobierno de Estados Unidos debería trabajar con nuestros vecinos regionales para defender los derechos humanos y el estado de derecho. En cambio, la administración de Trump está colaborando con Bukele para violar nuestras leyes y evadir responsabilidad, condenando a personas a abusos indefinidos y encarcelamiento en otro país, para luego afirmar falsamente que es incapaz de reparar el grave daño que ha causado. Le urgimos a la administración a poner fin de inmediato a esta práctica descaradamente ilegal y devolver a los Estados Unidos a todas las personas desaparecidas en el CECOT.” -Felipe Navarro, Director Asociado de Políticas y Abogacía del Centro de Estudios de Género y Refugiados (CGRS)
April 15, 2025 at 12:04 AM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
Today Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele visited the White House. There Bukele and Trump doubled down on their illegal scheme that has resulted in the disappearances of over 280 people to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison.

Our full statement: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/bukele-...
Quote from Felipe Navarro, CGRS Associate Director of Policy and Advocacy, reads: "The U.S. government should be working with our regional neighbors to defend human rights and the rule of law. Instead, the Trump administration is collaborating with Bukele to violate our laws and evade accountability, condemning people to indefinite abuse and imprisonment in another country, then falsely claiming it is powerless to redress the grave harm it has caused. We urge the administration to immediately end this blatantly illegal practice and return to the United States every single person disappeared to the CECOT."
April 15, 2025 at 12:03 AM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
Without advocates helping them, kids are more prone to be preyed upon, left without proper schooling or medical care, and trapped in unsafe living situations.

✉️Contact your elected officials and demand action to #SaveUCP: Tinyurl.com/protect-kids @acaciajustice.bsky.social
Graphic reads: "Give Hope to Children: Demand Legal Protections for Unaccompanied Children / tinyurl.com/protect-kids" Text overlays photo of child with crayon writing, "hope / esperanza"
March 25, 2025 at 11:08 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
🚨Today the government terminated legal services for immigrant kids assisted through @acaciajustice.bsky.social's Unaccompanied Children Program, which provides a crucial lifeline to kids seeking safety.

We urge the admin to reverse this cruel decision: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/cgrs-de... #ProtectKids
Photo of child walking alone in front of orange wall. Overlay text reads, "CGRS Decries Termination of Legal Services for Unaccompanied Immigrant Kids" Quote from CGRS Director of Training and Technical Assistance Christine Lin reads, "CGRS has consulted on thousands of cases involving children who have survived unimaginable trauma in their home countries, only to be thrust into a complex and adversarial immigration system that forces them to plead their case alone, as a government lawyer fights for their deportation. The Unaccompanied Children Program has provided a lifeline to these children, ensuring that their rights are respected and that they are protected from abuse and exploitation as they navigate the legal process. Abandoning them while fast-tracking their deportation cases will lead to mass due process violations and wrongful denials of protection. In cases with life-or-death stakes, this will mean children being unlawfully deported to countries where they face grave harm."
March 21, 2025 at 9:03 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
CGRS and our partners just filed a lawsuit challenging the new mandatory bars rule, which circumvents due process to accelerate deportations of refugees: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/immigra...

@immigrantjustice.bsky.social @humanrightsfirst.org @raicestexas.bsky.social @florenceproject.bsky.social
Photo of child at border fence in black and white. Overlay text reads, "CGRS and Partners Challenge New Barriers to Asylum" Quote from CGRS Director of Litigation Melissa Crow reads: "Forcing asylum seekers to present documentary evidence and answer complex legal questions immediately upon their arrival, without any opportunity to consult with counsel, is absurd, inefficient, and dangerous. This rule allows the administration to circumvent due process and accelerate deportations of refugees to countries where they face grave harm, in blatant violation of our laws, and with deadly consequences.”
March 19, 2025 at 6:08 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
📅 WEDNESDAY: Join CGRS, @weareceda.bsky.social, @refugeesintl.bsky.social, @wola-org.bsky.social, @imumiac.bsky.social, and @alianzaamericas.bsky.social for the first in a two-part webinar series on migration in the Americas. Interpretation available.

Register: www.weareceda.org/events/migra....
Graphic reads: "Webinar: Migration Policy Under the Trump Administration: What's Changing and What's At Stake? Wednesday, March 5, 1-2:30 pm EST" Graphic includes photograph of hands touching border fence and logos for Alianza Americas, CEDA, CGRS, IMUMI, Refugees International, and WOLA.
March 3, 2025 at 11:35 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
“Just as he did in his first term, the president is attempting to rewrite our laws by executive fiat and impose an illegal policy of mass expulsions,” our litigation director Melissa Crow said today.

Read more: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/immigra...
Quote from Melissa Crow, CGRS Director of Litigation, reads: "Just as he did in his first term, the president is attempting to rewrite our laws by executive fiat and impose an illegal policy of mass expulsions. This time around, his administration has fully embraced racist conspiracy theories, declaring that families, children, and adults seeking safety somehow constitute a hostile ‘invasion.’ The administration cannot use this lie as justification to circumvent our laws, which allow people in the United States or arriving at the southern border to seek asylum and prohibit our government from returning refugees to countries where they face persecution or torture."
February 3, 2025 at 9:28 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
NEW: We've filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump admin's attempts to shut down asylum at the border: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/immigra...

With partners: @aclu.org @immigrantjustice.bsky.social @lasamericasiac.bsky.social @florenceproject.bsky.social @txcivilrights.bsky.social @raicestexas.bsky.social
text reads, "CGRS and partners sue Trump admin over asylum shutdown at the border," over image of pro-immigrant demonstrators
February 3, 2025 at 9:11 PM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
As the Trump admin prepares for a dramatic increase in detention, read our @immcouncil.bsky.social blog on our client Ms. E.G.V.'s harrowing experience in ICE detention, ICE's failure to keep records of her mistreatment, and our FOIA lawsuit: bit.ly/egvblog

#WelcomeWithDignity #CommunitiesNotCages
Photo of ICE detention fence. Overlay text reads "ICE’s Inadequate Record Keeping on Treatment of Detained Asylum Seekers Threatens Lives"
January 29, 2025 at 12:08 AM
cgrsasylum.bsky.social
This week the Trump administration announced a set of extreme anti-immigrant policies that will gut access to asylum and exacerbate suffering and chaos at the border.

We're ready to use every tool at our disposal to halt these destructive measures.

Our statement: cgrs.uclawsf.edu/news/cgrs-de...
Photo of mom and child with sign that reads, "YA BASTA DE DEPORTACIONES"; Text reads, "CGRS will defend asylum, challenge cruel policies. Trump’s first set of extreme executive actions seek to destroy all pathways to safety for refugees: • Shutdown of asylum at border • End to parole, CBP One programs • Reinstatement of Remain in Mexico • Family separations • Mass detention • Resettlement ban" Quote from CGRS Director of Litigation Melissa Crow reads, "The president’s first set of executive actions recycles the unlawful asylum policies of his first term, many of which the courts struck down, and all of which made communities on both sides of the border less safe. The president has offered no real solutions to the challenges at our southern border. He has instead doubled down on racist fearmongering and tried-and-failed policies of cruelty. We are ready to take this administration to court and use every tool at our disposal to halt these destructive measures. They are designed only to sow fear, punish immigrants and refugees, and destroy all legal pathways to safety for people fleeing persecution and torture."
January 23, 2025 at 5:49 PM