International law says they don't need to ask permission.
Article 1(A)(2) of the 1951 Convention defines a refugee as an individual who is outside his or her country of nationality or habitual residence who is unable or unwilling to return due to a well-founded fear of persecution based on his or her race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Applying this definition, internally displaced persons (IDPs) – including individuals fleeing natural disasters and generalized violence, stateless individuals not outside their country of habitual residence or not facing persecution, and individuals who have crossed an international border fleeing generalized violence are not considered refugees under either the 1951 Convention or the 1967 Optional Protocol.
US law says this:
Asylum applicants have to establish that they are “refugees” as that term is defined by the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This requires showing that they are unable or unwilling to return to their own countries because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.
AG Sessions is reviewing key cases and rendering decisions that provide guidelines for judges on asylum cases.
On March 7, 2018, he directed the Board of Immigration Appeals to refer the unpublished December 8, 2016, decision, “Matter of A-B-”, to him for his review. The Board granted asylum in this case to a victim of domestic violence, A-B-, who claimed persecution on account of membership in a particular social group described as, “El Salvadoran women who are unable to leave their domestic relationships where they have children in common.”
“An alien may suffer threats and violence in a foreign country for any number of reasons related to her social, economic, family or other personal circumstances,” Sessions wrote in his ruling. “Yet the statute does not provide redress for all misfortune.”
THEY HAVE TO GO BACK.
https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/392409-sessions-domestic-abuse-decision-didnt-change-asylum-law-just-applied-it
