My Boyfriend Threatened to Kill Me – Can I Get Asylum?
Femicide — killing a female because she’s a female – is usually the final act in a long pattern of abuse. These murders are not random, but part of a system including courts and police which regularly fails women. If you escaped your boyfriend or husband by coming to the United States, can you remain safe by winning asylum? Read on to increase your chance of approval.
When a Threat is Not a Weapon: The Difference Between Fear and Danger
For starters, threats without immediate danger are not enough. This includes phone death threats, death threats written on paper, even threats posted on social media. In a new case just handed down in 2026, the Board of Immigration Appeals denied asylum to a Peruvian who fled the country before being killed. See Matter of E-M-F-S-. The court ruled that the death threats were not enough because the future murderer did not have “the immediate ability to carry out” the threat when it was made. So, if an armed abuser threatened you because of your religion, politics, or membership of some particular social group (mother of their child), maybe you’ll get asylum. But maybe you won’t; continue reading.
Will Your Police Protect You?
It’s harder to win asylum when the person harming you isn’t the government, because you must also prove that your own country’s police cannot or will not protect you — not just that you’re in danger. An abused girlfriend must prove that her police reports were ignored, protection was denied, there’s corruption towards helping her abusive boyfriend, or the country’s police system simply doesn’t work. This is where Blandon Law attorneys help – turning a client’s personal tragedy into a story about the failure of her country’s government.
Your Partner’s Crimes Can Destroy Your Asylum Case
If an asylum applicant testifies that she shared in any way in her boyfriend’s serious crimes – even if the boyfriend threatened to KILL HER if she didn’t help him – the abuse survivor will be denied asylum. See Matter of D-G-B-L-. Immigration denies asylum if it has “probable cause” to believe that the foreigner committed a “serious nonpolitical crime” before coming to the United States. Probable cause means ONLY that the asylum applicant MAY HAVE committed or helped commit a crime; immigration does not have to prove the crime to deny asylum. Your confession of the boyfriends acts, as a way of proving how dangerous the boyfriend is, will be used to deny your case.
Given this administration’s hostile asylum policies, some of which are illegal, you need the best lawyer you can afford. Blandon Law has been helping families win asylum for over 20 years. Call 954.385.0157 or request a chat through our website today to speak to an asylum immigration expert.
Also click “Ask an Attorney” if you have a question for a future blog.
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All team members speak Spanish.
Disclaimer – These entries are based on real life events. Family member names, when used, are real. Client names are changed for privacy.
* This blog uses the heteronormative girlfriend/boyfriend scenario but applies to survivor/abuser couples of any gender.
