Attorney General Sessions limits asylum for domestic violence victims

[June 12, 2018]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Monday overturned a key immigration case that had granted asylum to a Salvadoran woman who had been raped and beaten by her former husband.

The decision could have wide-ranging impacts on immigrants seeking refuge in the United States from violence in their home countries

Sessions' ruling came after he made the unusual move to personally intervene in the case, known as the "Matter of A-B-" after the woman had won an appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals to overturn a lower immigration court judge's denial of her asylum petition.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Reade Levinson; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions delivers remarks at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund’s 30th annual candlelight vigil in Washington, U.S., May 13, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts