The Faltering US Refugee Protection System: Legal and Policy Responses to Refugees, Asylum-Seekers, and Others in Need of Protection

The United States' system of refugee protection, long a source of national pride and a symbol of United States' openness to the world's dispossessed, remains generous in many respects. This system – which encompasses refugees, asylum-seekers, and populations in need of short-term protection – has ambitious goals and diverse responsibilities. It seeks to enable those fleeing persecution to reach protection, while preventing terrorist and criminal infiltration; to identify and admit vulnerable refugees, and to promote their successful integration; to screen out fraudulent political asylum claims, but to ensure that bona fide asylum-seekers can apply for and, if eligible, secure asylum; and to weigh endless requests for temporary protection from groups and individuals. Over the past 20 years, particularly since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, security and enforcement concerns have driven United States' refugee developments and protection policies have not kept pace. The present article details the increased difficulties bona fide refugees and asylum-seekers face in trying to reach and to gain protection in the United States. It also describes the paucity of legal tools available to admit and to provide temporary status in the United States on humanitarian grounds. It argues that the United States' system of refugee protection needs policy attention and revitalisation.