Help refugee women forced into marriage gain asylum

"Li" is a young woman who fled China after her parents paid off their debts by selling her to an abusive man. Li objected to this arrangement, but was unable to break off the marriage or to pay back the money.

Li fled to the U.S. and sought asylum, but the immigration agency rejected her claim and ordered her deported back to China, asserting that her plight was just a "personal problem."
Last year a federal Court of Appeal found Li eligible for asylum, recognizing that young Chinese women sold into marriage, where such sales are valid and enforceable by the government, should qualify as refugees.

Now, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering reversing this decision, claiming that hundreds of millions of women in arranged marriages will seek asylum in the U.S. - a totally unfounded claim which has been refuted again and again. The DOJ is currently deciding whether to ask the US Supreme Court to intervene and order Li deported back to her persecutor in China.

Please TAKE ACTION:

click here now to contact Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and urge him to uphold the decision that human beings cannot be bought and sold, and that forced marriage is a valid basis for granting asylum. Tell the Department of Justice not to seek Supreme Court reversal of the Second Circuit's decision in Li's case.