O’Melveny Wins Asylum for Colombian Woman Who Survived Violence, Mistreatment, and Tragic Loss

An O’Melveny pro bono team working with attorneys from the Bronx Defenders succeeded in securing asylum for a Colombian woman who suffered violence from her family, multiple domestic partners, her gang-affiliated neighbors, and Colombian society. She also was coercively sterilized after she was diagnosed with HIV and suffered discrimination while seeking treatment.

A native of Colombia, the woman was regularly beaten as a child and sexually and physically assaulted by family members and multiple partners. She finally found a loving partner and had a daughter, but the infant tragically died of HIV-related complications, which is how she and her partner learned that they were also HIV-positive. After surviving the subsequent death of her partner, a healthcare provider coerced her into undergoing sterilization, falsely informing her that a baby could not survive a subsequent pregnancy.

She was able to leave Colombia and applied for asylum in the United States in 2016.

O’Melveny worked with The Bronx Defenders for five years, ultimately convincing the immigration judge that their client suffered past persecution and that she had a well-founded fear of future persecution. Her extraordinary resilience and strength paid off, and she was granted asylum in August 2022.