Mukasey: BIA Must Reconsider FGM Decision
"Attorney General Michael Mukasey has rebuked [the Board of Immigration Appeals] on behalf of a Mali woman who fears genital mutilation if sent home. It's rare for the nation's top law enforcement officer to reject rulings issued by the U.S. Board of Immigration Appeals. But Mukasey did just that on Monday, overruling the panel's decision to deny asylum to the unidentified woman who opposes tribal customs in Mali that force genital mutilation upon its women. The appeals panel had spurned the Mali woman's request in April, in part because her genitals already have been mutilated. Mukasey called the decision flawed and sent it back to the judges to reconsider. "The board based its analysis on a false premise: that female genital mutilation is a one-time act that cannot be repeated on the same woman," Mukasey wrote in his order. "As several courts have recognized, female genital mutilation is indeed capable of repetition.""
LARA JAKES JORDAN for the Associated Press.