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.
Asylum in the United States
- Asylum
- May 9, 2025
Asylum seekers must navigate a difficult and complex process that can involve multiple government agencies. This fact sheet provides an overview of…
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The Supreme Court Hears Asylum Turnback Case: What You Need to Know
The opportunity to ask for asylum is a right protected under both U.S. and international law. Yet, during the first Trump administration, border officials physically blocked hundreds of thousands of migrants from accessing ports of entry to seek asylum. Under the government’s “turnback policy” (which the government calls “metering”), U.S. Read More
Supreme Court Today: Immigration Advocates Tell Justices Trump’s Turnback Policy Violated Law
Thousands denied right to seek asylum and forced back into danger; case has implications for refugee rights March 24, 2026, Washington, D.C. – Immigration advocates argued today before the Supreme Court that the Trump administration’s turnback policy violated federal immigration law. Under the now-defunct policy, immigration officers at official… Read More
From Imprisonment and Torture in Iran to Endless Detention in the US
The Trump administration has gone to war in Iran. And among the many rationales given is that, by “being beat to hell,” the Iranian regime will be weakened enough for a grassroots revolution to topple it.“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to… Read More
Federal Court Blocks Significant Pieces of Administration’s Sweeping Immigration Appeals Rule That Eliminates Meaningful Judicial Review
Order Halts Implementation of Dangerous Steps that Would Have Dismantled Safeguards at the Board of Immigration Appeals Washington, D.C. — The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order late last night in Amica Center for Immigrant Rights et al. v. Executive Office for Immigration Review et… Read More
Legal Services Organizations Sue to Block Sweeping Immigration Appeals Rule That Eliminates Meaningful Judicial Review
Emergency Filing Seeks Court Order to Halt Implementation of Interim Final Rule that Dismantles Safeguards at the Board of Immigration Appeals Washington, D.C., Feb. 26, 2026 — Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Brooklyn Defender Services, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, HIAS, the American Immigration Council, and National Immigrant Justice… Read More
‘Please Save Our Lives.’ LGBTQ Asylum Seekers Face Death if Deported Back to Iran
Three LGBTQ Iranians came to our southern border together a year ago, seeking asylum. All three had experienced similar harm: brutal abuse as children by family members for perceived rejection of gender norms in deeply religions families, and persecution by Iranian officials as adults. They fled Iran together and came… Read More
For Victims of Gender-Based Violence, Getting Asylum Just Got Harder
A new decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) will make it harder for people fleeing gender-based violence to gain asylum in the United States. On July 18, the BIA published its decision in Matter of K-E-S-G-, finding that people persecuted solely on account of their sex are… Read More
New Report Reveals Devastating Impact of Trump’s Expanded Travel Ban
$715 Million in Taxes, $2.5 Billion in Spending Power at Risk WASHINGTON, DC, August 6 — A new report released today by the American Immigration Council details the sweeping economic and humanitarian toll of the Trump administration’s June 2025 travel ban, which restricts immigration from 19 countries. In… Read More
New Report: Trump’s Second Term Ushers in Extreme Immigration Overhaul that Threatens Our Democracy
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 23, 2025 — A special report released today offers a sweeping analysis of the Trump administration’s first six months back in office, revealing an unprecedented transformation of the U.S. immigration system that strikes at the foundation of American democracy. While some voters may have supported a… Read More
After Detaining People in El Salvador Torture Prison for 125 Days, the U.S. Government Must Be Held Accountable for Disappearing Migrants
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 19, 2025 — After 125 days imprisoned in El Salvador’s notorious “mega-prison,” the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), Venezuelan nationals Edicson Quintero Chacón and Jose Manuel Ramos Bastidas were released yesterday and placed on a U.S.-brokered flight to Venezuela, alongside approximately 250 other Venezuelans whom the United States… Read More
