GPM Clients Gain Asylum After 5-year Fight
MINNEAPOLIS (December 14, 2015) – Gray Plant Mooty recently won another huge asylum case on behalf of two clients – Fanta Cisse and her son, CJ.
Before fleeing to the United States from Guinea, a country in western Africa that borders the Atlantic Ocean, Fanta lived a life of persecution at the hands of her father, a wealthy Muslim polygamist of high socioeconomic and religious stature. Fanta was physically assaulted by her father throughout her childhood for refusing to accept Islam. He attempted to kill Fanta’s first husband (CJ’s father), a Christian, which led to their divorce. Fanta was forced to marry a Muslim polygamist who brutally attacked and raped her.
Fanta fled to the United States approximately five years ago. Her initial application for asylum was denied for reasons that remain unclear, but after five long years living a life in limbo, a local immigration judge recently granted her asylum application from the bench. And, in rather spectacular fashion, the judge dictated a long and well-reasoned order from the bench, discouraging the prospect of an appeal.
Gray Plant Mooty’s trial team included Brian Dillon, Craig Miller, Meg Martin, Gayle Schaub, and Brandon Kaster (a 2014 summer associate).
For more information about Fanta and her son CJ, and their long journey through our immigration court system, see this Star Tribune article from March 2014.
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