In the United States, asylum is granted to people who have been persecuted in their home country. The persecution must be based on their political beliefs, religion, nationality or social group, or be a serious threat to the life or well-being of family members who live in the country where they are seeking asylum. Asylum seekers can be of any age or gender.
There are currently 8.4 million people waiting for a decision on their asylum claims worldwide. This lengthy and uncertain process impedes access to employment, education, trauma recovery and other vital services. It also creates long-term separation of refugee families and makes it more difficult to find pro bono attorneys who can commit to representing asylum seekers for the duration of their cases.
Asylum is a legal concept that originated in the ancient world where individuals who were being prosecuted by their rulers sought protection from another sovereign power. Rene Descartes fled to the Netherlands, Voltaire to England and Thomas Hobbes to France because they believed that their own rulers would not protect them. The right to seek asylum was incorporated into Western law in the Middle Ages.
The right to political asylum has been incorporated into international treaties, such as the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. US courts have interpreted the right to seek asylum broadly. For example, US courts have held that women whose husbands subject them to female genital mutilation can claim asylum.
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