Abstract

The primary objective of asylum policy is to offer a “safe haven” for individuals whose lives are in danger in their home countries (through persecution and/or torture), and individuals from countries where human rights violations are prevalent should have an increased likelihood of having their asylum requests approved. Yet, to date, little research has examined, systematically, historical and contemporary asylum approval rates and their distribution over time, across countries, and between asylum claims. In this paper, we leverage data from multiple administrative sources to examine how changing states of exception and exclusionary categories embedded in U.S. asylum policy have affected affirmative and defensive asylum grant rates between 1980-2023. Since the passage of the Refugee Act in 1980, we find that over 6.2 million asylum petitions have been submitted for adjudication; however, only 1-in-7 petitions for asylum have been granted in the last four decades, despite claims of well-founded fear of persecution or torture. Our findings draw attention to administrative decision-making about asylum claims within the context of polarized public opinion and political discourses about immigration.

Presenters

Bryan Sykes
Associate Professor, Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy and Department of Sociology, Cornell University, New York, United States

Vicente Mata
Student, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, California, United States

Details

Presentation Type

Paper Presentation in a Themed Session

Theme

2024 Special Focus—The World on the Move: Understanding Migration in a New Global Age

KEYWORDS

Asylum, Policy, Inequality, Spatial Analysis

Digital Media

This presenter hasn’t added media.
Request media and follow this presentation.