“Political Asylum is a form of protection offered to individuals who fear persecution in their home country and seek refuge in the United States. The duty of a country is to protect its citizens, but when they fail to do so, people may have to seek asylum in other countries where they feel safe.
Let us understand more about this article. “Under U.S. law, people who flee their countries because they fear persecution can apply for asylum. If they are granted asylum, this gives them protection and the right to stay in the United States. Those who are granted asylum are called asylees. According to U.S. immigration law, a refugee is someone who has been resettled to the United States through the U.S. resettlement program. This is a separate process from an asylum. For more information on resettled refugees, please see the Rights and Duties of Refugees.
To apply for asylum in the U.S., you must be physically present in the U.S. or be seeking entry into the U.S. at a port of entry. Persecution can be harm or threats of harm to you or your family or to people similar to you. A person can also obtain asylum if he or she has suffered persecution in his or her country in the past. You only can win asylum if at least one of the reasons someone harmed or may harm you is because of your race, religion, nationality, political opinion (or a political opinion someone thinks you have), or the fact that you are part of a “particular social group.”[1]
Every single year individuals turn up in the United States of America in search of protection as they face various kinds of threats in their own country. This threat could either include:
- Fear of persecution
- Punishment
- Inhumane treatment
- Massive violation of human rights,
- Degrading treatment,
- External or internal acts of aggression.
“If you are eligible for asylum, you may be permitted to remain in the United States. To apply for asylum affirmatively or defensively, file Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, within 1 year of your arrival to the United States. Visit our Obtaining Asylum in the United States page for more information on affirmative and defensive filings. There is no fee to apply for asylum.
You may include your spouse and children who are in the United States on your affirmative or defensive asylum application at the time you file or at any time until a final decision is made on your case. To include your child on your application, the child must be under 21 and unmarried. For more information see our Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal page. If you were placed in expedited removal proceedings, you received a positive credible fear determination, and USCIS retained your asylum application for further consideration in an Asylum Merits Interview, please visit our Asylum Merits Interview with USCIS: Processing After a Positive Credible Fear Determination page. If you have an asylum application pending with us, you can check the status of your case at Case Status Online. You will need the receipt number that we provided you after you filed your application.”[2]
A specified number of legally defined refugees who are granted refugee status outside the United States are annually admitted under 8 U.S.C. § 1157 for firm resettlement.[3] Other people enter the United States as aliens either lawfully or unlawfully and apply for asylum under section 1158.[4] There are three basic requirements in the United States for asylum seeking asylees. They are:
- First, asylum applicants must not be convictedof a particularly serious crime or an aggravated felony.[5]
- Secondly, they should prove that there is a well-founded fear of persecutionin their own country of nationality and permanent residency[6] The well-founded fear is a key factor here, as well as the decisive factor.
- Third, asylum applicants must prove that they would be persecuted on account of at least one of five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or particular social group.[7]
Majority of asylum claims in the United States fail or are rejected. One third of asylum seekers go to courts unrepresented although those with legal representation have higher chances of winning.[8] In 2015, the world saw the greatest displacement of people since World War II, with 65.3 million people having to flee their homes.[9] The Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), among other things, collects large amount of funds and then distribute it to refugee admission programs involved in relocating refugees into communities across the country.[10]
Case Law: “The term “well-founded fear” has no precise definition in asylum law. In INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U.S. 421 (1987), the Supreme Court avoided attaching a consistent definition to the term, preferring instead to allow the meaning to evolve through case-by-case determinations. However, in Cardoza-Fonseca, the Court did establish that a “well-founded” fear is something less than a “clear probability” that the applicant will suffer persecution. Three years earlier, in INS v. Stevic, 467 U.S. 407 (1984), the Court held that the clear probability standard applies in proceedings seeking withholding of deportation (now officially referred to as ‘withholding of removal’ or ‘restriction on removal’), because in such cases the Attorney General must allow the applicant to remain in the United States. With respect to asylum, because Congress employed different language in the asylum statute and incorporated the refugee definition from the international Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the Court in Cardoza-Fonseca reasoned that the standard for showing a well-founded fear of persecution must necessarily be lower.”[11]
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[1] What is asylum? - UNHCR USA [2] Asylum | USCIS [3] "Reznik v. U.S. Department of Justice, INS, 901 F. Supp. 188". U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Harvard Law School. March 28, 1995. p. 193. Congress granted the President and Attorney General wide discretion in determining the admission of refugees to the United States.” [4] INA section 208, 8 U.S.C. § 1158. [5] "Hernandez v. Holder, 760 F.3d 855". U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. Harvard Law School. July 28, 2014. p. 859. An alien who has been convicted of an 'aggravated felony' is ineligible for asylum....” [6] "Refugees". U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. September 23, 2021. [7] "Matter of A-B-, 28 I&N Dec. 307". Attorney General. U.S. Dept. of Justice. June 16, 2021. [8] Rabben, Linda 1947- Verfasser. (2016). Sanctuary and asylum : a social and political history. ISBN 978-0-295-99912-8. OCLC 964063441. [9] "Global Refugee Crisis". Partnership for Refugees. [10] "Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration". U.S. Department of State. [11] Asylum in the United States - Wikipedia
