Pending: Asylum Seekers in the U.S.

By: James Porter

According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), an asylum seeker is “a person who has left their country of origin, has applied for recognition as a refugee in another country, and is awaiting a decision on their application.” There is often much attention paid to refugees by those in the nonprofit sector. However, asylum seekers are unique from refugees and face unique challenges of their own such as detention in the U.S. and the uncertainty of the asylum adjudication process.

There is a specific distinction that is made between refugees and asylum seekers whereas refugees apply for status outside of the U.S., asylum seekers apply for status in the U.S. or at a U.S. port of entry. In the first six months of 2010, there were 22,969 applications for asylum filed. Seeing as there were 63,804 applications still pending at the end of 2009, a decrease of only 5,959 in pending cases from the beginning of the year, these new applicants will likely have to wait quite some time for their decisions. This does not bode well for those seeking asylum in the remainder of 2010. (UNHCR Statistical Online Population Database, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee)

For asylum seekers, there are two main ways of obtaining asylum in the United States; the affirmative process with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) or the defensive process with the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). The differences are spelled out below by USCIS:

Affirmative	Defensive
Asylum-seeker has not been placed in removal proceedings before an Immigration Judge	Asylum-seeker has been placed in removal proceedings before an Immigration Judge
Asylum-seeker affirmatively submits his or her asylum application to a USCIS Service Center	Asylum-seeker: Is referred by an Asylum Officer; Is placed in removal proceedings for immigration violations; or Tried to enter the U.S. without proper documents and was found to have a credible fear of persecution or torture If the individual was referred by USCIS, the asylum application already filed will carry over to the IJ. If the individual did not yet submit an asylum application he will submit it to the IJ.
Asylum-seeker appears before a USCIS Asylum Officer for a non-adversarial interview	Asylum-seeker appears before an Immigration Judge with the Executive Office for Immigration Review for an adversarial court-like hearing
Applicant must provide a qualified translator for the asylum interview	The court provides applicant with a qualified interpreter for the immigration hearing

CLINIC believes that asylees are especially vulnerable. Unlike refugees, they are not sponsored by agencies to enter the country and face a confusing and unknown legal process in a new country with an often new language. Even once their applications are filed, asylees endure many bureaucratic barriers to resettlement and integration in to their new homeland.

In response to this great need, CLINIC has established the National Asylee Information and Referral Line that refers asylees to more than 500 local providers of resettlement services such as English language classes, job placement assistance, temporary cash assistance, and health care. CLINIC’s grant to fund this project from the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is now in its 10^th year. The referral line itself is operated by CLINIC affiliate Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York and has served over 30,000 asylees since its inception.

For more information about the National Asylee Information and Referral Line, click here.