REFUGEE PROTECTION

The international definition of a refugee, adopted by the United States, is a person outside of his or her country of nationality, who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her home country because of a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, political opinion, and or coercive population control which includes forcible abortion, and forcible sterilization.

To receive protection, an individual must be able to show a harm that rises to the level of persecution, which has been defined as the infliction of suffering or harm in a way regarded as offensive, including both physical and economic harm.

The harm need not be in the hands of the government, but can be bya person or persons the government is unable or unwilling to control.

In order for a fear to be "well founded," there must be a subjective as well as an objective element. the subjective element is the fact that the person has a fear, and the objective element is that the actual circumstances make the fear reasonable - such that a reasonable person in the circumstances of the applicant would fear persecution.

MANDATORY DENIAL

Even where persecution exists, a person seeking refugee protection or asylum is subject to mandatory denial in the following circumstances:

• The applicant ordered, incited, assisted, or participated in the persecution of others.
• The applicant has been convicted of a particularly serious crime in the U.S. and constitutes a danger to the community.
• There are reasons to believe that the applicant has committed a serious, nonpolitical crime outside of the U.S.
• There are reasons to beleive that the applicant constitutes a danger to the national security of the U.S. or is a suspected terrorist.
• The person has resettled permanently in another country.
• The person has previously applied for and been denied asylum in the U.S.
• The person failed to file for asylum within one year after arriving in the U.S.

The person may be removed under a bilateral or multilateral agreement to a safe third country where the person's life or freedom would not be threatened and where he or she would have access to a full and fair procedure for determining the asylum claim.

DISCRETIONARY DENIAL

Discretionary denial of a person's application for refugee protection or asylum is based on the totality of the person's record taking into account the following circumstances:

• Whether the person passed through a third country and could have sought protection or asylum in that country.
• The length of time and the circumstances under which the person lived in a third country.
• Whether the person has relatives who are legally in the U.S.
• Humanitarian considerations such as the person's age and health.

 

REFUGEE PROCEDURES

To receive protection, the person may apply overseas before a DHS officer who reviews the case and considers the numerical geographical categories of persons as designated by the President.

In order to receive refugee status, the person must have an individual or voluntary agency sponsor him or her and must provide assurance that he or she will have a job and housing after arrival.

As part of the determination of eligibility, grounds for admissibility are evaluated; though the public charge, labor certification, and visa documentation requirements do not apply to refugees.

Grounds for inadmissibility may be waived for humanitarian reasons, to ensure family unity, or in the public interest.

However, inadmissibility may not be waived for those trafficking in controlled substances, Nazis, and those who are inadmissible for security, foreign policy, or terrorism reasons.