Problems with the U.S. asylum system are easy to overlook, especially when they have to compete with the more contentious issues related to comprehensive immigration reform. Last week the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on a new bill that would update US asylum policy to make asylum adjudication more efficient along with remedying some thorny problems that have cropped up over the years. Human Rights First has advocated for asylum seekers for many years, and the statement that group submitted as testimony for the hearing summarizes several of the problems:
• A filing deadline and other barriers that have limited access to asylum for genuine refugees;• The rapid escalation of immigration detention and the failure to provide crucial due process safeguards to prevent detention from being arbitrary or unnecessary;• Expansive bars to admissibility and flawed legal interpretations that have mislabeled refugees as supporters of “terrorism”;• Flawed interpretations of the “particular social group” and “nexus” requirements of the refugee definition; and• Maritime interdiction procedures that lack effective safeguards to ensure that the United States is not returning refugees to persecution.
What’s most interesting to me is that the bill clarifies the “particular social group” ground. According to current law, asylum seekers can win asylum if they fear persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. But in recent years, the Board of Immigration Appeals (which considers many asylum decisions) had read in a requirement that the “particular social group” be socially visible. HRF points to a comment by Judge Posner that such a requirement is unwise: “[I]f you are a member of a group that has been targeted for assassination or torture or some other mode of persecution, you will take pains to avoid being socially visible.” Gatimi v. Holder, 578 F.3d 611, 615 (7th Cir.2009). The new bill would do away with this “socially visible” requirement.
HRF’s full statement is embedded below.
