Refugees & Asylum

Following is a list of resources about refugees and asylum.

2010

Refugees and Asylees

June 29, 2010 - National Immigration Forum

Fact sheet on refugees and asylum seekers.

Deferred Enforced Departure

June 29, 2010 - National Immigration Forum

Description of Deferred Enforced Departure.

Temporary Protected Status

June 29, 2010 - National Immigration Forum

Fact sheet on Temporary Protected Status.

Up Against the Asylum Clock: Fixing the Broken Employment Authorization Asylum Clock

February 12, 2010 - Jesús Saucedo and David Rodríguez, Penn State Law's Center for Immigrants' Rights for the American Immigration Council

The report examines the laws, policy, and practice of the "Employment Authorization Document (EAD) asylum clock"- a clock which measures the number of days after an applicant files an asylum application before the applicant is eligible for work authorization. The law requires asylum applicants to wait 150 days after filing an application to apply for a work permit. The report reveals that applicants often wait much longer than the legally permitted timeframe to receive a work permit.

2009

Jailing Refugees: Arbitrary Detention of Refugees in the US Who Fail to Adjust to Permanent Status

December 29, 2009 - Human Rights Watch

This report examines the detention of refugees for failure to file for lawful permanent resident status. Although only a small number of refugees are jailed for this purpose, the detentions continue to be selective and arbitrary. The report recommends changing US law to close the legal loophole that allows for detaining these refugees and to give them lawful permanent residence when the US grants them asylum or admits them to the country under its overseas refugee resettlement program.

Denial and Delay: The Impact of the Immigration Law’s “Terrorism Bars” on Asylum Seekers and Refugee

November 11, 2009 - Human Rights First

This report critiques the impact of U.S. immigration laws’ “terrorism bars” on asylum seekers and refugees. Changes to the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA) as part of the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001 and the REAL ID Act in 2005 expanded provisions relating to terrorism and drew attention to the over-breadth of the INA’s pre-existing definition of “terrorist activity.”

Immigration Judge Reports — Asylum

June 22, 2009 - Transactional Access Records Clearinghouse (TRAC)

This page contains over 250 detailed reports providing the year-by-year record of individual Immigration Judges.

Latest Data from Immigration Courts Show Decline in Asylum Disparity

June 22, 2009 - Transactional Access Records Clearinghouse (TRAC)

This report finds that judge-by-judge asylum disparities in the Immigration Courts are down since previous reports in 2006 and 2007. Among the fifteen immigration districts that decide the bulk of all asylum matters, the court data showed that disparity rates in ten of them have declined.

Refugees and Asylees: 2008

June 12, 2009 - Department of Homeland Security Office of Immigration Statistics

This Office of Immigration Statistics Annual Flow Report provides information on the number of persons admitted to the United States as refugees or granted asylum in the United States in 2008.

2008

The World Refugee Survey 2008

June 19, 2008 - U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants

The World Refugee Survey reports on conditions for refugees and internally displaced persons in 120 countries. The Survey also evaluates and ranks how host countries honor refugee rights as set forth in the 1951 Refugee Convention.

2007

Asylum Disparities Persist, Regardless of Court Location and Nationality

September 24, 2007 - Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse

This report offers a detailed analysis of the judge-by-judge disparity that exists in each of the nation's separate immigration courts. It also analyzes the disparity rates for asylum seekers from different nations.

Refugee Roulette: Disparities in Asylum Adjudication

May 15, 2007 - Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Andrew I. Schoenholtz, Philip G. Schrag

This study reveals significant disparities in grant rates. The chance of winning asylum was strongly affected by whether or not the applicant had legal representation, by the gender of the immigration judge, and by the immigration judge's work experience prior to appointment.

Expedited Removal Study Report Card: 2 Years Later

February 08, 2007 - United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

Two years after publication of a Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal, the problems identified remain and the majority of the report's recommendations have not been implemented

2006

From ‘There’ to ‘Here’: Refugee Resettlement in Metropolitan America

September 15, 2006 - Audrey Singer and Jill H. Wilson, Brookings Institution

Using data from the Census and the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement, this report examines where refugees come from—documenting significant region-specific flows tied to various overseas conflicts—and where they land, finding that refugee destinations have shifted away from typical immigrant gateways housing large foreign-born populations to newer, often smaller, places.

Immigration Judges

July 21, 2006 - Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse

Analysis of hundreds of thousands of requests for asylum in the U.S. showing a great disparity in the rate at which individual immigration judges declined the applications.

2005

Hidden Victims: Evaluating Protections for Undocumented Victims of Human Trafficking

December 05, 2005 - Immigration Policy Center

Despite the legal innovations of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the number of people who have actually received protection under the law is relatively low. The main problem is that there is insufficient evidence regarding the actual number of qualifying cases of “severe” human trafficking.

Report on Asylum Seekers in Expedited Removal

February 08, 2005 - U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom

The Study found that compliance with procedures in place to ensure that asylum seekers are protected under Expedited Removal varied significantly, depending upon where the alien arrived, and which immigration judges or inspectors addressed the alien’s claim. The Study urges the incoming Secretary of Homeland Security to ensure that a high ranking official is responsible for coordinating refugee and asylum matters.

2004

IN LIBERTY’S SHADOW: U.S. Detention of Asylum Seekers in the Era of Homeland Security

January 31, 2004 - Human Rights First

Discusses the adverse effects new laws and regulations in the era of homeland security have had on refugees and asylum seekers