Asylum Denied to Health Care Workers

During international conflicts, the United States has always sought to aid health care workers who are trying to provide care to wounded combatants by offering these workers to apply for asylum.  However, as a result of September 11, there has been an ongoing trend of USCIS challenging asylum claims filed by health care workers who have provided assistance to wounded members of what the U.S. government claims are terrorist organizations.  

According to the U.S. government, providing medical assistance to members of terrorist organizations is considered to be Material support" to terrorists and can be used to deny asylum.  However, in its definition of what constitutes "material support" for terrorists, Congress did not list medical treatment.  

The Geneva Convention protects health care workers trying to fulfill their ethical duty to provide care to wounded combatants without regard to affiliation, known as medical neutrality.  In the past, the U.S. condemned those countries who violated this right.  However, its new post-September 11 stance on asylum claims seems to deny these health care providers the opportunity to provide medical care, even when forced by terrorist organizations.  

In a recent asylum case, the Department of Homeland Security is appealing an immigration judge’s decision to grant asylum to a Nepalese health provider who was kidnapped twice by a Maoist group who wanted him to treat a wounded rebel.  The government also rejected the asylum claim of a nurse from Colombia who was forced at gunpoint to provide medical care to members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

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