In the news: LGBT political asylum news, homophobic violence in Peru

Not sure if this will be a recurring feature here at Blabbeando but here's some news stories that caught my attention recently:

Deportation woes: Today, The Washington Post reports on immigrants in deportation proceedings who reach immigration court without access to legal representation which, some advocates claim, leads to hundreds of unfair deportations on an annual basis.

No political asylum for Jamaican lesbian: In this week's Gay City News, Arthur Leonard continues his exemplary ongoing look at LGBT asylum cases and discusses a decision by the federal appeals court in Philadelphia upholding a lower court's decision not to grant political asylum to a Jamaican lesbian woman. Mr. Leonard's blog can be found in my personal links column.

Transgender Mexican woman might get political asylum: In the meantime, on Thursday, Metropolitan News reported that the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Board of Immigration Appeals to reconsider an asylum claim filed by a Mexican-born transgender woman deeming that the Board of Immigration Appeals failed to take into consideration key testimony in their decision not to grant the woman asylum.

Police in Peru accused of systematic attacks on the LGBT community: Finally, the UK's Pink News picks up on an EFE newswire article on a report released by the Lima Homosexual Movement (MOHL) over the weekend in which the organization claims to have documented over 600 homophobic attacks throughout the South American nation during 2006 and in which they accuse police officers of "carrying out systematic attacks on gay people in the country."

More information on the report can be found in this Spanish-language article distributed by the Andina newswire.