activist from Sudan #2

The Asylum Officer also asked:

What does your government want?
Why do they care about you?
Your brother came to USA, was granted asylum, and then he returned to Sudan?
Did he suffer any harm when he returned? NO, so, how about you? how are you different from your brother?
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while you were in the jail cell, what weapons did the guard have?
what words did he say? what language did he speak in?
What thoughts went through your mind at that time?
When did you decide to depart from Sudan?
How did you arrange for your travel to USA?
Can you return to Sudan today?
who would harm you? how would they harm you?
Has anyone been looking for you, since you departed?
Today, how many family members live in Sudan? how much has each one suffered?
If no one has bothered them, why would you be bothered?
=
you had problems in the city of Khartoum? Ok, so why not go live in a different city?

an activist from Sudan

The Asylum Officer asked:
-who prepared your application? who helped you?
Can you repeat everything on page 1 of the I-589?
What was your last address before arriving in USA?
Tell me about all of your international travel: for each country, can you live there today, and why didn't you apply for asylum in that country?
-for each country you lived in, what was your immigration status?
=
what is the immigration status of each member of your family?
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before they FGM on you, did they give you an anesthetic?
What complications did you suffer, afterwards?
did they remove all of the stitches?
was there pain upon urination?
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Do you have a political opinion? what is it?
When did it begin?
What did you do, in opposition to your government?
If a movie camera or camcorder followed you around, without any sound, what would be recorded?
How did you criticize your government? when, and where?
Does government know that you criticized it?
=
if you say 8 sentences in a row, can the interpreter translate everything? NO? so why not just two sentences and stop?
Is a picture or a drawing worth 1,000 words? Yes! [so, create more exhibits which are drawings]
=What is your ethnic group? from your appearance, can people tell what group you are in?
-ethnic group is permanent, and easy to see, whereas a political opinion could be secret and ever-changing?
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After you departed from Sudan, you returned there several times, voluntarily?

Common reasons why people were denied

COMMON REASONS WHY PEOPLE WERE DENIED ASYLUM:

1.the applicant was inconsistent. He could not repeat, orally, what he had written. Or, the letter from his mother was inconsistent with what he said

2. the applicant voluntarily returned to his country, after he was injured. For example, Mr. C was beaten and imprisoned in his country in 2012. Then, he departs from his country in 2013, is gone for three months, then he voluntarily returns;
then, six months later, he daparts again, and comes to the USA. He says, "I need asylum because it is very dangerous in my country." The Asylum Officer thinks: you departed from the "dangerous" country in 2013, and then you returned to it! If it is really so dangerous, you would not have returned to it."

3. the applicant did not report his problems to the police; the applicant did not seek protection from his own government. Why should the USA give you asylum, if you have not demonstrated that your own country will not help you?

4. Your mother and brother were not beaten and imprisoned. Why not? This shows the government does not hate your entire family. [perhaps they were not beaten because they were not active in politics]

5. Your government has forgotten about you. You think you are a big deal, but no one in your country cares about you anymore. You left your country years ago; they worry about current dissidents, not dissidents from years ago.