For asylum seekers, a fickle system

Amid the national debate over immigration reform, asylum has been largely overlooked.

By Bill Frogameni | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor

from the July 3, 2007 edition

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Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - Three grueling weeks after they cast off from Haiti – subsisting on toothpaste and saltwater, they said, once the food ran out – just over 100 men, women, and children ran their rickety boat aground off Hallandale Beach, Fla., just north of Miami.

As the weakened Haitians waded or tried to swim toward land – one man died just yards from shore – they were helped by local firemen and others then taken to a county detention facility.

That was March 28. Three months later, they're still in detention, seeking asylum in the United States, prompting community demonstrations, the involvement of a local US congressman, and even a hunger strike.

Amid the contentious national debate over immigration reform, asylum has been largely overlooked. But like the immigration system overall, critics say, the asylum process is difficult, broken, and unfair.

"The Haitian community is very frustrated and angry," says Marleine Bastien of the Miami-based Haitian-American Grassroots Coalition. "There's such discrepancy.... People feel even if they make a good-faith effort, their chances are minimal in getting asylum."

The statistics explain some of the frustration.

Unlike refugee status, a designation generally pursued by people who want to come to the United States, asylum is for individuals without authorization already in the US or at a port of entry. And their numbers are dropping – despite the recent surge in immigrants.

Since 2001, the annual number of asylum applicants has dropped by a third to a half, depending on the category. The number of people granted asylum has also fallen by a third: from a record 38,641 in 2001 to 25,257 in 2005, the last year for which complete data are available.

The drop may be due to immigrants' perceptions that the system has become more adversarial since 9/11, says Ms. Bastien, whose coalition represents some of the Hallandale Beach detainees: "People feel the burden placed on them is very heavy, very high."

To begin with, different nationalities receive different treatment. Toward the top of the pyramid are Cubans. If they set foot on US soil, they circumvent the asylum process altogether, thanks to the Cuban Adjustment Act first passed in 1966. Instead, Cubans are automatically designated refugees and, thus, are eligible to apply for legal permanent resident – or "green card" – status. By contrast, most others already in the US without authorization or at a port of entry must go the asylum route.

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