ADVOCATES URGE MORE ASSISTANCE FOR ASYLEES

“Refugee” and “asylee” are two terms that are frequently used interchangeably. The two are identical in most respects, but they do differ in two ways.  Members of both groups have had to demonstrate that they have a reasonable fear of persecution because of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.  Despite the identical basis of the classifications, refugees seek classification in that status before arriving in the US, while asylees gain that status by filing an asylum application in the US.  The second difference is that refugees are the beneficiaries of the federal Refugee Resettlement Program, while there is no program for the assistance of asylees.  This disparity strikes many advocates as fundamentally unfair.

Most asylum applicants arrive in the US without proper documents, which often results in their being detained, often in a jail,  while their asylum application is processed.  About one-third of applications are granted.  These asylees are then released from detention and left to fend for themselves.  Of course, the INS cannot continue to detain a person who has been granted asylum, but advocates believe it is not right to abandon them once they are released.

Asylees, who were often victims of torture and wrongful imprisonment in their home country, often spend more than a year in detention, and when they are released they are ill equipped to deal with life in the US.  While asylees are entitled to work authorization, it is often many months after their release before they receive their work cards.  A few groups have sprung up to provide services to asylees, but they are limited in the assistance they can provide and the number of people they can serve.  They argue that the same program should cover asylees as refugees, and hope that the increasing attention given to the detention of asylum seekers will focus more light on the needs of asylees who are released into the community.