Millions of children, women and men around the world feel that they cannot stay in their own countries because of violence or threats of violence, war, gang and other organized crime, extreme poverty, natural disasters, persecution because of race, religion, sexual orientation, or membership in a social group, or a combination of these. These people are called asylum seekers.
The right to asylum in the United States is protected by federal law, including Section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. To be eligible for asylum, you must have both a subjective fear of persecution and an objective risk of returning to your home country.
You can seek asylum by applying at a U.S. embassy abroad or at a port of entry in the United States. You may also file a defensive asylum application in removal proceedings before an immigration judge at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).
A claim of well-founded fear of persecution must be supported by evidence. Adjudicators will consider an applicant’s testimony, as well as any documents and other reliable information available at the time of the threshold screening interview (TSI).
The government has a strong interest in ensuring that asylum claims are credible. This is why adjudicators will examine an applicant’s credibility and assess their past persecution to make a fair decision on the merits of an asylum application. Applicants can also seek protection under withholding of removal, which is similar to asylum but has a higher standard. Applicants for withholding must show a clear probability that they would be persecuted in the future on the basis of one of the five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.