PRO BONO SPOTLIGHT
Jenner & Block Attorneys Help African Woman Rebuild Her Life in the U.S.
 Hazika (not her real name), a citizen of a country in central Africa, was sold in marriage to a man who subjected her to extreme physical and psychological abuse. In February 2007, after an agonizing wait, Hazika was granted asylum by the Immigration Court in Chicago. She had the good fortune to be represented by a pro bono team from Jenner & Block LLP, including Lawrence S. Schaner (right) and Matthew R. DiPentima (left), who appealed an earlier denial of Hazika’s asylum claim all the way to the United States Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and then succeeded in getting the government to agree to a new hearing.
Hazika’s struggle to escape a world of violence and sexual humiliation has been long and difficult. Born into a family of seven children, Hazika encountered gender discrimination both in her family and in her community. She obtained a college degree, but upon graduating, Hazika was relegated to household duties as most women in her country do not hold professional positions. When Hazika was 21 years old, she was introduced by her parents to Kwame (not his real name), a wealthy man three times her age, whom Hazika believed already had several wives and children. Hazika reports that upon seeing her, the man exclaimed that because she was so young, he would marry her.
Shortly after this meeting, Hazika was informed by her parents that they had arranged for her to marry Kwame so that he would provide financial support for the family. Hazika was adamantly opposed to the marriage despite her fear of being disrespectful to her parents. When her parents became aware of Hazika’s unwillingness to marry Kwame, they cursed at her and beat her with sticks. Hazika still bears the scars from those beatings.
Prior to the marriage, Hazika’s parents allowed Kwame to visit their household nearly once a month. During those visits he sexually assaulted her by grabbing her breasts and fondling her genitals. On one occasion, Kwame kidnapped Hazika and took her to a neighboring country.
During the journey, Hazika was drugged and raped by Kwame while unconscious. She was then taken to a hotel where he held her for three days and repeatedly raped her. Hazika’s parents forced her to undergo genital cutting in preparation for the marriage. Hazika still suffers from the deep psychological impact of these painful and horrific experiences.
Hazika was desperate to escape, but knew that it would be futile to seek help from authorities in her home country because they already had refused to help her older sister, who had also been sold into an arranged marriage. She applied for and received a scholarship which involved international travel. Hazika promised her parents and Kwame that she would return shortly to marry him. She then made her way to the U.S., where she applied for asylum.
Hazika was denied relief by a judge who believed her story, but held that she that she had failed to establish how she fit within legal definition of a “refugee.” The BIA affirmed this denial. Schaner and DiPentima then came in to handle the appeal to Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, and in January 2005, DiPentima contacted CGRS Deputy Director Stephen Knight for his input and advice.
CGRS advised the Jenner & Block attorneys and shared copies of briefing and other materials from recent domestic violence, forced marriage, and genital cutting asylum cases in preparation for the Seventh Circuit appeal. After briefs were filed, the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation—which represents the government in immigration cases in federal court—offered to agree to a remand of the case to the BIA, and stipulated that the decisions of the immigration judge and BIA were flawed.
Following an additional briefing before the BIA, the case was remanded to the Immigration Court for a new hearing. With ongoing assistance and advice from CGRS, DiPentima and Schaner filed an extensive trial brief on Hazika’s behalf, replete with significant country conditions research provided by CGRS. In January 2007, the Jenner & Block team arrived in court prepared to have both Hazika and a country conditions expert testify. However, much to their surprise, the judge immediately called lawyers from both sides into a pretrial conference. The judge said that he had read the brief prepared by DiPentima and Schaner and believed that Hazika should be granted asylum. In addition, the judge was able to convince the government to agree to a grant and to waive appeal; he issued a favorable decision without requiring any further testimony.
Hazika currently works as a nurse’s assistant and is slowly rebuilding her life in the U.S. She is also receiving critical medical and psychological treatment for the harms she suffered in her home country. Hazika is extremely relieved that her decade-long struggle to be safe and free from violence and persecution has finally come to an end.
Even though there continues to be strong resistance on the part of the U.S. government to recognizing many forms of gender persecution as legitimate bases for asylum, Hazika’s case demonstrates that with high-quality legal representation, refugee women can find a safe haven in this country.
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