Board of Immigration Appeals: Protecting an Indo-Fijian Woman Asylee

Veliamma Veliamma, a Fijian Woman of Indian descent born in 1930, faced brutal persecution in Fiji on account of her gender and ethnicity. She was beaten on numerous occasions, robbed, and her home was taken from her. The Hindu temple she worshipped and preached at was also burned to the ground. Facing continued persecution, she fled Fiji in 2000 and applied for asylum in the United States. After an uphill legal battle including numerous appeals over ten years, the BIA remanded her case to the Immigration Judge and she was granted withholding of removal. ICAAD counsel represented Veliamma in her last appeal to the BIA and before the Immigration Judge. This case serves as an example of the pattern and practice of violence against women in the South Pacific, where they have virtually no access to justice from law enforcement or the judiciary, and are under constant threat of violence.