Refugees and Asylum Seekers
The United States has a longstanding tradition of welcoming individuals from around the world who are seeking protection and refuge. But recent U.S. policy has grown increasingly hostile toward asylum seekers and refugees. Instead of turning vulnerable individuals away, the United States should maintain its global reputation as a leader in refugee resettlement and humanitarian protection. Doing so not only upholds American values but sustains and strengthens our communities. Data from the Council shows that refugees and asylees make tremendous contributions to our economy as earners, taxpayers, and consumers. Learn more about the contributions and challenges of asylum seekers and refugees below.
The Growing African Immigrant Population in the United States
Much is said and written about the immigrant population in the United States. However, most work focuses on immigrant populations from Latin America and Asia. Fortunately, the Pew Research Center has just provided a new snapshot of the foreign-born population that hails from countries across Africa. While Africans remain a… Read More
DHS Secretary Johnson Discusses Border Security, Executive Action, Refugees and PEP
On Thursday, Secretary Jeh Johnson of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) addressed the 12th Annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference, covering a wide-range of topics, from border security to the new Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) to executive action and refugees. Secretary Johnson began his remarks calling attention to… Read More
UN Report Highlights Worsening Refugee Crisis in the Americas
The Northern Triangle of Central America—comprising El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—is now one of the most dangerous places on the planet. The United Nations estimates that Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world, while El Salvador comes in fifth and Guatemala sixth. It is for this reason that so many Central American families have made the very difficult decision to send their children out of their home countries, bound primarily to the United States, in the care of often violent and abusive smugglers. However, the refugee crisis currently gripping the Northern Triangle encompasses not only unaccompanied children, but mothers with children, as well as entire families. And it shows no signs of ending anytime soon. Read More
Report Highlights Uncertain Futures of Unaccompanied Child Migrants
Although their numbers have declined this year, unaccompanied children (UACs) from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico continue to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border by the thousands. Many—particularly those from Central America—are refugees fleeing horrific levels of violence in their home countries. Others might more properly be termed… Read More
Refugee Security Process is Already Robust, Senate Hearing Shows
The United States plays an important role in protecting thousands of the world’s most vulnerable people fleeing persecution in their home countries. At no point in U.S. history has this role been more crucial—the violence and devastation in Syria has led to the largest number of refugees since World War… Read More
How Should the U.S. Respond to the Syrian Refugee Crisis?
As the Syrian refugee crisis mounts, the United States is being pressured both internally and externally to take in more of the nearly 4 million refugees that have been displaced due to ongoing conflict in Syria. To date, the United States. has taken in 1,500, or less than 0.03… Read More
New Report Evaluates Scale of the Central American Refugee Influx
The Central American refugee influx along the U.S.-Mexico border, which generated so much press attention in 2014, is not going away anytime soon. The conditions which spur Salvadorans, Guatemalans, and Hondurans to flee their countries in large numbers—namely, widespread violence and grinding poverty—have not changed. Nor has the fact that… Read More
Story of Unaccompanied Child Underscores Importance of Legal Representation Needed for All Refugee Children
Elvis Garcia is a migration counselor at the Catholic Charities Community Services of New York. He is also a former unaccompanied child who fled from his native Honduras in 2005 when he was 15 years old. Last week, Garcia and several others participated in a roundtable discussion sponsored by Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Services to evaluate the response to the humanitarian situation at the southern U.S. border and highlight the recommendations regarding the treatment of children in their new report. During the roundtable, Garcia pointed to the lack of lawyers for kids as one of the biggest challenges confronting unaccompanied children. He said many children are eligible for asylum, yet lack the access to attorneys to navigate the system. 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
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
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