The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) is a leading voice in the movement to rebuild the U.S. asylum system and expand access to protection for women, children, LGBTQ+ people, and others seeking refuge. Our Policy & Advocacy team serves as a critical resource on asylum to policymakers, journalists, and the public. We provide rapid analysis of policy developments and offer practical recommendations for decision-makers at all levels of government, advising our leaders on how to ensure the United States lives up to its legal and moral commitments to people fleeing persecution.
This piece breaks down a series of victories at the Ninth Circuit, where the court overturned denials of asylum to women fleeing domestic violence, rejecting the Trump administration's attempt to gut protections for suvivors.
This piece breaks down the First Circuit decision in De Pena-Paniagua v. Barr, affirming the right of domestic violence survivors to seek asylum.
This article describes a letter sent by 182 organizations, urging the Trump administration to reverse its Title 42 policy, which allows border agents to summarily expel asylum seekers under the pretext of the pandemic.
This article analyzes the existing state of U.S., foreign, and international law on persecution on account of “membership in a particular social group” defined by family and explores how this theory can be applied in practice in the wake of the 2019 Attorney General ruling in Matter of L-E-A-.
This article calls on the Trump administration to reverse its Title 42 expulsion policy and instead protect the health of asylum seekers during COVID-19 by expeditiously paroling them into the U.S., reducing needless detention, and putting a moratorium on all deportations.
This piece critiques the United States' agreements with El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, allowing the return of asylum seekers to those countries, which are patently unsafe for refugees and migrants.
This op-ed urges Congress to pass the Refugee Protection Act which, among other crucial provisions, would restore acces to asylum for women and girls fleeing gender-based violence.
This piece describes the devastating consequences of the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) (also known as the "Remain in Mexico" policy), which forces people seeking asylum to await their court dates in perilous conditions south of the border.
This op-ed criticizes President Trump's rejection of a proposal to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to Bahamian nationals in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, as well as the president's cruel statements demonizing Bahamians.
This piece criticizes the Trump administration's rule authorizing the government to imprison immigrant children indefinitely, explaining how the rule endangers children and why it is unlikely to hold up in court.