Authors

Ellen A. Jenkins

Article Title

Taking the Square Peg Out of the Round Hole: Addressing the Misclassification of Transgendered Asylum Seekers

Abstract

Part I provides the basic definitions and understandings this Comment will adopt within the transgender paradigm and provides an overview of United States asylum procedures and the immigration court structure. Part II discusses asylum applications based on sexual orientation and will address how subsequent cases have erroneously applied this social group to transgender applicants. Part II further highlights examples of adjudicatory issues that transgender asylum seekers may face as a result of not identifying as homosexual. Part III showcases the recognition and protection afforded to transgender plaintiffs in pivotal civil discrimination cases and, as a result, how their rights have been correspondingly protected. This Comment concludes with a recommendation that the immigration judicial system modify its current definition of "particular social group" to explicitly recognize the "transgender identity" for asylum purposes.

Recommended Citation

Ellen A. Jenkins, Taking the Square Peg Out of the Round Hole: Addressing the Misclassification of Transgendered Asylum Seekers, 40 Golden Gate U. L. Rev. (2009).
https://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/ggulrev/vol40/iss1/4