Matter of Kasinga Case Brief Summary | Law Case Explained

Matter of Kasinga | 21 I & N Dec. 357 (1996)

The Immigration and Nationality Act authorizes a discretionary grant of asylum in the United States to individuals who satisfy the statute’s definition of refugee. Broadly speaking, a refugee is someone fleeing persecution in her home country. In Matter of Kasinga, the Board of Immigration Appeals considered whether a young woman escaping a violent yet common cultural practice could obtain asylum.

Fauziya Kasinga was 19 and a citizen of Togo. Kasinga’s tribe practiced female genital mutilation, or FGM. Women of the tribe were typically subjected to this practice at 15. Kasinga’s influential father protected her from FGM until his death, when Kasinga was 17. At that time, Kasinga’s aunt, her father’s sister, became the head of the family according to tribal custom. Her aunt forced Kasinga into a polygamous marriage with a much older man. Kasinga’s husband and aunt planned to compel Kasinga to submit to FGM.

Kasinga fled to the United States via Germany. When she arrived at the Newark airport, she immediately surrendered to immigration authorities and requested asylum.

At a hearing before an immigration judge, Kasinga testified that the Togolese police and government knew of the practice of FGM and wouldn’t protect her from it. She further testified that her husband had connections with the police and could find her anywhere in Togo with police assistance. There was evidence that the form of FGM that Kasinga’s tribe engaged in was extreme, exposing the victim to potentially life threatening complications and causing permanent physical and psychological damage.

The immigration judge denied Kasinga’s application for asylum and ordered her deported. Kasinga appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals.

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