The bar on asylum to those who have given material support to a terrorist organization doesn't distinguish between voluntary and forced support, the Third Circuit has ruled in a case of first impression.

As a result, a man who was kidnapped from his house in Freetown, Sierra Leone, during the country's civil war and forced at gunpoint to carry weapons for the Revolutionary United Front is barred from seeking asylum in the United States.

“We recognize the harsh consequence of our holding, but it is compelled by policy decisions that reside with Congress and the executive branch,” said Judge Cheryl Ann Krause of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit on behalf of the unanimous three-judge panel.