Refugees and Asylum

Post-WWII Refugee Crisis

 There was a vast refugee crisis at the end of WWII in Europe; for
example 14 million Germans were deported from Eastern Europe
 The UDHR, article 14, stipulates that “everyone has the right to seek
and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution”
 This does not mean, though, that countries have to always provide it
 Countries probably have limits on how many refugees they can
absorb.
 Immigration can be a sensitive political issue.

Office of the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees

 Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was created Dec.
14, 1950 to help deal with this crisis.
 It was originally seen as temporary, but became permanent
 Provides food, water, shelter, other assistance to people who have
been displaced.
 In areas with many displaced people, will often set up camps
 Helps displaced persons to find a more permanent destination
 Resettlement to other countries as recognized refugees
 Repatriation to country of origin if it become safer
 Integration into country they fled to

1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees

Define refugees as “Any person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being
persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular
social group or political opinion, is outside of the country of his nationality and is
unable or owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that
country.”

Establishes rights of refugees

 Right of resettlement (though states are not required to admit them or provide
asylum)
 Non-refoulement: refugees cannot be deported to their home country where
they may face persecution
 Non-discrimination based on race, religion, country of origin
 Right to work, housing, education, access to courts, etc.
 This original convention was focused on Europe and U.S. did not sign this
 1967 Protocol to the 1951 Convention: removed the geographical and time
limits from the convention; it applies to refugees anywhere and at any time
 U.S. ratified this protocol in 1968

Types of Migrants

 Economic migrants
 Those migrating for economic reasons are not eligible for asylum;
refugees must be fleeing a well-founded fear of persecution
 Asylum seekers in U.S. by law are supposed to get a hearing but it may
be difficult to prove fear of persecution
 Economic factors may be intertwined or caused by civil war, insecurity,
repression
 Internally displaced persons: displaced from their homes but within
home country
 Stateless persons: government of country they have called home
claims they were never citizens; no other country claims them
 E.g. Rohingyas from Myanmar;

Global Refugee Crisis

 There have been several conflict-prone areas across Africa and the
Middle East that have produced refugees, many of whom want to
resettle to Europe
 The Syrian civil war, beginning in 2011 added to this flood; by 2015
there was a crisis as European countries were inundated
 Some, like Hungary, kept them out
 Some, especially Germany and Sweden, were more generous; but
this has led to a backlash in Germany and the rise of a nationalist
party (Alternative for Germany)
 Australia has also faced a flood of migrants; “Off shore policy” has
sent thousands of asylum seekers to camps in Papua New Guinea
and Nauru
 UK’s policy to send asylum-seekers to Rwanda
 Over 7.7 million Ukrainian refugees since war broke out

United States Refugee Act of 1980

A landmark legislation that established a systematic approach for the admission of refugees to the United States, defining the process for granting asylum and resettlement, and aligning U.S. policy with international standards set by the 1951 Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol.

Two processes for determining refugee status

 An overseas admissions process through the U.S. Citizenship and
Immigration Services or the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
 These are called refugees
 The president, working with Congress, develops an annual plan for
admitting refugees from specified countries or regions
 Asylum process for people already within U.S. territory
 Those granted asylum are called asylees
 U.S. government is not obligated to admit refugees or grant asylum
but it does have the non-refoulement obligation

Kilmar Abrego Garcia

illegally^[8] deported from the United States on March 15, 2025, in what the Trump administration called "an administrative error".^[9] He was imprisoned without trial in the Salvadoran maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), despite never having been charged with nor convicted of a crime in either country,^[10][11] under the countries' agreement^[12] to imprison U.S. deportees there for payment.