Asylum
Asylum grants legal protection to foreign nationals already in the U.S. or arriving at the border who can’t go back to their home country because of persecution. Learn more about the asylum system in the United States, including how asylum is defined, eligibility requirements, and the difficult and complex application process.
Transfers of Detained Families Traumatizes Mothers and Children and Interferes with Access to Lawyers
The government recently began transferring families who have been held in Texas to the Berks County Family Residential Facility in Pennsylvania. Not only have these sudden transfers traumatized many mothers and children, but they are interfering with the families’ access to their lawyers and are jeopardizing their right to a… Read More
Evidence Shows Asylum Seekers Appear for Court with Alternatives to Detention and Legal Assistance
When thousands of Central American families fled violence to the United States last year, the Administration responded by opening family detention centers, which are detaining mothers and children as their asylum-based claims work through the court system. Family detention has since led to complaints of psychological harm, suicide attempts, protests and hunger strikes by detainees, and lawsuits over lack of due process, all at exorbitant cost. Yet a new paper by the American Immigration Council and Center for Migration Studies, A Humane Approach Can Work: The Effectiveness of Alternatives to Detention for Asylum Seekers, suggests that U.S. detention of asylum seekers is not only harmful, but unnecessary. Read More
A Humane Approach Can Work: The Effectiveness of Alternatives to Detention for Asylum Seekers
For decades, the U.S. refugee protection system has been a symbol of the nation’s generosity and openness to the world’s persecuted. Yet since Congress’ enactment of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), asylum seekers arriving at the United States-Mexico border have been subject to mandatory detention… Read More
Measuring Protections for LGBT Immigrants
25 years ago, the Board of Immigration Appeals held that people fleeing persecution based on their sexual orientation are eligible for asylum. Just months later, President George H.W. Bush lifted a ban which excluded lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) immigrants from entering the country. A recent report by… Read More
What Is Driving Children to Leave Central America?
The children who leave behind their homes in Central America and Mexico and undergo the dangerous and sometime fatal journey into the United States are not doing so on a whim. Most are fleeing conditions that are life threatening: violence committed by gangs that act with impunity, violence committed within… Read More
Unrepresented Children Still Being Fast-Tracked Through Immigration Hearings
Since the government began “prioritizing” the deportation of unaccompanied children and mothers with children last summer, legal service providers and other court observers across the country have reported that immigration judges are giving children less time to find attorneys before moving forward in their cases. Now, children without attorneys… Read More
Civil Rights Complaint Documents Government’s Failure to Properly Screen Asylum Seekers
In a strong condemnation of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) treatment of refugees, several organizations submitted a complaint to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties (OCRCL) detailing the pervasive failure of CBP officers to properly screen individuals who fear persecution. The complaint supplements… Read More
Report Discloses Deportation of Central American Asylum Seekers
Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report last week documenting serious flaws in the procedures used to deport noncitizens apprehended at or near the border—flaws that are resulting in the deportation of Central Americans who face serious harm in their home countries. The report is based on interviews of… Read More
The Failings of Family Detention at Artesia
The inhumanity of family detention and the danger of short-changing basic due process protections are on full display in the detention center in Artesia, New Mexico, where hundreds of women and children are being held by the U.S. government. The Washington Post reports this week on a tour they took… Read More
Landmark Decision on Asylum Claims Recognizes Domestic Violence Victims
Last week, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a landmark decision that recognizes that women who have experienced domestic violence may be deemed a “member of a particular social group” which would help support a potential asylum case. The case, Matter of A-R-C-G-, arrives at a… Read More
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