In overriding the Board of Immigration Appeals, Mukasey ripped the court's decision that said the 28-year-old citizen and native of Mali should be expelled "because her genitalia already had been mutilated (so) she had no basis to fear future persecution if returned to her home country," CNN reported Tuesday.

Calling the rationale "flawed," Mukasey sent the case back to the court, ordering it to reconsider.

The woman had asked the officials not to return her to her Bambara tribe in Mali, CNN said. The woman said if she returned and had a daughter, the child also would be subject to genital mutilation.

"Female genital mutilation is not necessarily a one-time event," Mukasey said, noting the board in another case granted asylum to a woman whose "vaginal opening was sewn shut approximately five

times after being opened to allow for sexual intercourse and child birth."

Mukasey was urged to look into the matter by congressional members who were angry at the immigration court's ruling in January.