02/03/2022
The next is Ms. Fauziya Kassindja. Born in Kpalime, Togo, Africa, she fled to the US at the age of 17 to avoid the ritual of female ge***al cutting after a forced marriage.
Her book Do They Hear You When You Cry? discusses her journey including her time at an immigration detention center and her petition for asylum on the basis of her attempted mutilation, which was initially denied.
On appeal, the BIA ruled that female ge***al cutting constituted persecution in this case, and that Ms. Kassindja had a well-founded fear of this persecution. The BIA also found that her persecution was based on her membership in the particular social group of “young women of the Tchamba-Kunsuntu Tribe who have not had FGM [female ge***al mutilation], as practiced by that tribe, and who oppose the practice.”
Ms. Kassindja’s story is a reminder of the importance of immigration and “fighting for all [] who yearn to be free.”
