Research Paper on Asylum Seeking in the United States

Introduction

In every year, they are thousands of people from all corners of the world-seeking asylum in the United State. According to the United Nation protocol, asylums refers to the protection granted to foreign nationals either in the host country or at borders to those that have fulfilled the international definition of refugees. The international law defines a refugee as any person who is unable or unwilling to return and stay in their home country as he or she cannot obtain protection from unlawful persecutions or is subjected to fear because of race, religion, social group membership, or political opinion (Meissner & McCabe, 2013). For years, the United States has portrayed the importance of having longstanding asylum values and traditions. In fact, its refugee protection system has been a symbol of the nation's openness and generosity to the rest of the world. However, of late the U.S. asylum system has been facing notable challenges leading to a backlog of refugees' cases. Asylum applicants have been forced to go through difficult periods in detention and have to wait for years to receive their application outcomes. Therefore, this paper will expound and examine the immigration laws and factors that have resulted in making the process of seeking asylum in the United States to be difficult and lengthy.

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Factors and Immigration Laws Causing Asylum Application Process in the U.S. to be Difficult and Lengthy

According to statistics released by the Department of Homeland Security, the number of applications from new asylum increased from 43, 312 in the year 2012 to approximately 141,000 in 2017. In the last ten years, this number has in fact increased by 2000 percent making it complex for immigration officers to determine those that are legitimate and illegitimate asylums seekers (Meissner & McCabe, 2013). Consequently, the increasing flow of immigrants has changed the manner in which asylum cases are processed in courts. Initially, after filling the application forms asylum seekers used to join a list of people who had booked earlier appointments with officers from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. The waiting period was roughly 60 days and within the spell, one would be informed of his or her fate. However, in recent years, the waiting period has extended to about two-to-five years subjecting immigrants to hardship and suffering as they try to earn a living in a foreign country. In most cases, those that have managed to sneak through the borders end up being apprehended and detained as they wait for deportation or approval to stay in the country. Some of the factors that have resulted in difficulties and delays in the asylum application process include:

The Route of Getting to America and its Risks

Various parts of the world have been experiencing political, civil, and religious war resulting in a large number of refugees seeking asylum in democratic and nations that are politically stable. The United States has been a preference for many particularly those with means of getting across its borders. Immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, China, Syria, India, Ethiopia, Somalia, and Egypt are some of those that have been fleeing their home countries in large numbers to seek asylum in the United States. Apart from fleeing and seeking asylum across the American borders, some immigrants have been opting to fill refugee applications then proceed with the process of settling in America. However, none of these routes is easy or prompt. For example, to become an asylum, one must be at the United States borders or already in one of the states in the country (Phillips, 2013). As a result, people have been risking their lives and resources to gain access to the borders without considering the risk of either being deported or detained. Therefore, before the asylum examination process begins those that have been apprehended by immigrant authorities goes through a difficult moment to approve themselves as legitimate refugees, which is also time-consuming.

Complications in Verifying Refugees' Authenticity

Credibility assessment is absolutely one of the most perplexing aspects of determining refugees' authenticity. Credibility determination involves weighing immigrants' statements and other evidence when making an asylum decision (Gyulai, 2015). In most cases, important parts of rights for international protection are rejected based on the validation that the involved courts or determining authorities does not believe the claims of the applicant. For an immigrant to secure asylum in any country they must have a well-founded fear of being prosecuted on bases of being a member of a social group, ethnicity, race, or holding different political ideology. In this case, although credibility has not been outlined in the international laws as a condition for refugee's status, a considerable number of asylum seekers have been having difficulties securing protection in the United States for failing to offer credible facts in their interviews with immigrant officers.

However, they are occasional cases where immigrants have managed to convince judges with conceived stories or without even testifying at all. For instance, whenever there is clear evidence that one is a member of social group or race being targeted for persecution the asylum applications and interviews are likely to be finalized without hitches (Gyulai, 2015). In other cases, decision-makers must assess evidence from a considerable distance, linguistically, geographically, and culturally prolonging the process giving a verdict. Applicants are also obliged to obtain relevant documents to ascertain their claims, which may be challenging as they cannot easily access institutions at their home countries. Likewise, even when applicants manage to access a full range of personal documents and other evidence, at times they may fail to provide direct and independent proof about past persecution or future threats (Gyulai, 2015). Without judges and immigrant officers giving benefit of doubt to some of these refugees' cases the process of seeking asylum in the United States and other democratic countries may turn futile, difficult, time-consuming, and challenging to immigrants and also the host nations.

Political Influence

From 2016, the United States politics have paid significant attention to refugees' potential benefits and dangers. An immigrant seeking to enter and remain in the country may pursue several immigration benefits including employment and family-based visas to those who have attained the set qualifications. For this reason, some have been using all means to get into America and apply for asylum from the immigration department. However, in the last decade, they have been diverse opinions from the political sectors regarding immigrants and the need for restricting the country from admitting more foreigners (Phillips, 2013). For instance, they are those that believe that immigrants play a vital role in American economy as they provide cheap labor and have also extended the market for locally produced goods. Likewise, with most Americans going for white-collar jobs they have been limited supply of labor in areas requiring unskilled labor, which would oblige the United States government to look for labor elsewhere. On the other hand, there have been increased concerns of terror attacks, forcing the government to take drastic measures against undocumented and illegal immigrants in the country. Consequently, those that have been on the process of securing asylum in the United States have been having a difficult time convincing the immigration officers that they deserve an opportunity to settle in the country.

Similarly, the current government under President Donald Trump has adopted a different approach to the asylum seeking process as compared to previous administrations. According to the United States government, the issue of immigrants has been a constant problem in America due to the loopholes that existed in the immigration processes and departments. President Trump's administration is determined to seal this get-out opportunity that refugees have been using particularly at the borders making it difficult for more fleeing caravans to access asylum in America (Phillips, 2013). One of the dominant approach to resolve immigration issues is by striving to find a reason to deny asylum to immigrants. Deportation has also been a common occurrence in the last few days the disappointing majority of genuine refugees with the hope of find asylum in a country.

Political Instability and Terrorist Threats

In most cases, those that have been fleeing their home countries are obliged to do so not because of the possibility of being persecuted but due to violence and political oppression perpetrated by governments. Likewise, they may be fleeing from atrocities carried out by terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic States. Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some African countries are some of the most affected nations whose citizens have been forced to flee their home countries to seek refuge elsewhere. With increasing terrorist activities, there has been a belief that accepting refugees would rise chances of terror attacks in host countries (Gomez, Hansen & Carranza, 2018). Following the 9/11 attack, America has tightened its policies and security to control illegal immigration, which acts as a disadvantage even to legitimate refugees especially those from Islamic nations.

The American government has been limiting the ability of foreigners to apply asylum based on assertions that they pose a security threat to the United States residents. For instance, the American government is determined by providing specifications that hinder immigrants from seeking asylum in the country (Miroff, 2018). Some of the limitations they have already imposed include victims of domestic abuse and gang violence do not qualify for asylum. Likewise, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services officers have been instructed to consider refugees' illegal entry to the country as a mark against them in efforts to implement asylum bans. Therefore, in most cases, those that have managed to have access in America have been hiding from immigrant officers rather than seeking asylum from their offices for fears of being deported.

Enactment of the Severe Immigration Policies and Reform

The United States' history of regulating immigration started back in the 1860s with the government enacting a law specifying those that were likely to be denied admission to the country. The move had been prompted by the high flux of illegal immigration and threat to the national security in the 19th century. However, in the 1990s and early 2000s, a series of free trade agreements realigned the economies of Central America and Mexico with millions of immigrants heading to the United States to look for job opportunities (Hassan, 2016). However, immigrants from other countries began to take advantage of a loophole in the Mexican border to access asylum in America. Today, they are approximately 2000miles wall and a numerous number of problems separating the border of U.S. and Mexico. The region is also one of the heavily guarded borders in the world endangering lives of refugees who are determined to cross over in search 0of asylum. Consequently, a number of policies have been implemented to regulate the entry of refugees in America. Some of these enactments include

Immigration Act of 1882. The law established categories of foreigners deemed undesirable for gaining access to the United States. In fact, the Immigration Act of 1882 was the first comprehensive immigration law enacted by the federal government and had enormous consequences (Frelick, Kysel & Podkul, 2016...