The Refugee Influx - Seeking Asylum

Like a refugee, an asylee (a person seeking asylum) is someone who wants refuge in another country, for example, the United States. The only difference is the location of the alien when he or she applies for refuge: a refugee is outside the United States when applying for refuge, while an asylee is already in the United States, perhaps on an expired tourist visa or at a port of entry. Just like a refugee applying for entrance into the country, an asylee seeks the protection of the United States because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution.

Asylees in the United States include sailors who jumped ship while their boat was docked in a U.S. port, athletes who ask for asylum while participating in a sports event, or women who base their claim on a fear of being compelled to undergo a coercive population-control measure. Any alien physically present in the United States or at a port of entry can request asylum in the United States. It is irrelevant whether the person is a legal or illegal alien. Like refugees, asylum applicants do not count against the worldwide annual U.S. limitation of immigrants.

Asylum Applications Exceeded Annual Limits

Thousands of people apply for asylum in the United States every year, but under the Immigration Act of 1990, only 10,000 asylees per year can be granted lawful permanent resident status. Moreover, they must be in the country for one year after being granted asylee status. Critics charge that many people seek asylum in the United States to avoid dismal economic conditions at home rather than the legitimate reasons to seek asylum under U.S. law: to escape political or religious persecution, or due to a well-founded fear of death. In addition, some illegal aliens try to obtain the legal right to work by filing for asylum. Unlike illegal aliens, asylees are legally permitted to work under certain circumstances.

How Many Asylees?

In FY 2003 the USCIS received 42,112 applications for asylum. More than one-fifth (9,175) were filed in the Miami office. During FY 2003, 15,470 individuals were granted asylum and 2,582 individuals were denied. Most

TABLE 4.9
Asylum cases filed with USCIS asylum officers, by asylum office, FY 2003
SOURCE: Adapted from "Table 19. Asylum Cases Filed with USCIS Asylum Officers by Asylum Office and State of Residence, FY 2003," in 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Office of Immigration Statistics, September 2004,http://uscis.gov/graphics/shared/aboutus/statistics/RA2003yrbk/2003RA.pdf (accessed March 2, 2005)

Asylum office and state of residence	Cases filed during yeara	Cases reopened during yearb	Cases granted during year	Percent approved	Individuals granted asylum during year	Cases denied during year
Total	42,114	4,158	11,434	29	15,470	1,539
Asylum office:
Arlington	5,859	370	2,182	52	2,718	110
Chicago	3,480	276	700	21	990	220
Houston	1,948	111	255	12	397	210
Los Angeles	8,027	685	2,033	22	2,544	360
Miami	9,175	525	2,639	34	4,203	247
New York	3,807	677	697	18	841	56
Newark	4,475	800	824	20	1,101	145
San Francisco	5,343	714	2,104	43	2,676	191
Asylum office and state of residence	Individuals denied asylum during year	Cases referred to immigration judge, past filing deadlinec	Cases otherwise closed during yeard	Cases referred to immigration judge, not interviewed	Cases referred to immigration judge, interviewed
Total	2,582	11,221	45,005	3,055	15,262
Asylum office:
Arlington	155	703	5,708	88	1,229
Chicago	329	987	1,423	631	1,420
Houston	313	565	2,421	238	1,035
Los Angeles	561	3,975	16,910	922	2,740
Miami	603	1,673	6,365	429	3,290
New York	101	1,077	4,633	133	2,059
Newark	206	1,328	2,657	41	1,825
San Francisco	314	913	4,888	573	1,664
a Cases filed and reopened in the same year are included only with cases filed.
b Cases reopened that were filed in a prior fiscal year.
c These cases referred because they were filed after the applicants had been in the United States for a year.
d Include ABC interview no show cases.
Note: USCIS represents U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services

other cases were referred to an immigration judge, or were closed for various reasons. (See Table 4.9.)

Filing Claims

A claim for asylum can be filed through an affirmative process or through a defensive process. In general, the affirmative asylum seeker is a person who mailed an application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services within one year from the date of last arrival in the United States.

Defensive asylum seekers are those who requested asylum as a defense against being removed from the country. In general, aliens can be placed into defensive asylum processing in one of two ways:

• they are referred to an immigration judge by asylum officers who did not grant them asylum, or
• they are placed in expedited removal proceedings because they were (1) undocumented or in violation of their status when apprehended in the United States, or (2) caught trying to enter the country without proper documentation (usually at a port of entry) and were found to have a credible fear of persecution or torture.

Expedited Removal

Under the expedited removal provisions of the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), any alien subject to expedited removal due to fraud, misrepresentation, or a lack of valid documents has to be questioned by an immigration officer regarding the fear of persecution at home. If the alien expresses such a fear, they are detained until an asylum officer can determine the credibility of the fear. Aliens found to have a credible fear are referred to an immigration judge for a final determination and are generally released until their case is heard. In some cases the alien is detained while his or her case is pending before an immigration judge. If the fear is deemed not credible, the alien is refused admission and removed.

Critics charge that the expedited removal process denies aliens a fair chance to fully present their asylum claims, places unprecedented authority in the hands of asylum officers, is conducted so quickly that mistakes are inevitable, limits an alien's right to review of a deportation order, and results in the wrongful expulsion of individuals with legitimate fears of persecution. An alien who is deported under the expedited removal process is barred from returning to the United States for five years.