US Attorney General declares tough new limits on asylum

Washington (AFP) – US Attorney general Jeff Sessions declared tough limits on asylum claims Monday in an effort to push back against a flood of illegal immigrant families from Central America.

Sessions declared that claims of domestic violence, or violence from criminal gangs that flourish across much of the region, do not meet the threshold for an asylum request at the US border.

“An alien may suffer threats and violence in a foreign country for any number of reasons relating to her social, economic, family, or other personal circumstances. Yet the asylum statute does not provide redress for all misfortune,” Sessions said.