Is the Grass Really Greener?

Asylum seekers have fled dangerous conditions in their homeland; as distinguished poet Warsan Shire wrote “no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark”. Unfortunately, many asylum seekers currently in the US are finding themselves in dire circumstances in our country as our asylum process is under severe stress from the record high encounters reported at the US – Mexico border. The depths of the bureaucracy involved in the asylum process lead many asylees to question their decision to flee the mouth of a shark, as they find themselves trying to stay afloat in shark infested waters.

The right to asylum is a part of US immigration law and Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; it is also outlined in the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. To qualify for asylum, applicants must convince a judge that returning to their home country would result in death or harm to their person on the basis of their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. To apply for asylum, migrants must apply from within the US or at one of the 328 official ports of entry. Currently, immigration courts throughout the country are faced with a backlog of three million pending cases. Asylum applicants may apply for work permits 150 days after filing their asylum application. Obtaining work authorization is currently reported to take at least thirty days. Consequently, asylum seekers are finding themselves in circumstances where they have to depend on social services for survival and remain in limbo regarding their legal status as they may wait years for their case to be adjudicated.

Journalist Olivia Bensimon shared the poignant story of a Guinean couple in The New York Times as they navigate life in New York City since March 2023 as asylum seekers. Having participated in political protests resulting from a coup in September 2021, Thierno Sadou Barry was left vulnerable to political persecution, and members of the military showed up at his house looking for him. Fearing for his life, Mr. Barry and his spouse, and Oumou Barry, were forced to leave behind their three children, family, and business to escape political persecution and possible death. Unable to work legally, Mr. and Mrs. Barry, along with their eight-month-old daughter have found themselves in homeless shelters in New York City since their arrival in the US, at the mercy of social services and volunteers that offer temporary assistance.

Their life is plagued with uncertainty and guilt, as they await permission to work and question their decision to temporarily leave behind their children whom they are now unable to provide for or protect. Afterall, it was their plan to find legal employment, send money home, and save up to reunite their family in the US. They are now subject to “rolling eviction notices” from the city. New York City, in an effort to cut costs for the migrant shelters, has begun to move migrant families every sixty days. Forcing them to return to city facilities and repeat the intake process to stay in the shelter system.

Adding to the incertitude of asylum seekers, the Department of State along with the Department of Justice have announced a proposed rule which would establish a rebuttable presumption of asylum ineligibility for certain noncitizens who enter at the southwest border without documentation and traveled through a country that is a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention or its 1967 Protocol. This rule would essentially prohibit any non-Mexican national who crosses the US – Mexico border from asylum in the US unless they previously applied for and been denied asylum in another country before their arrival at a US port of entry.

Faced with looming obscurity and fear, many asylees like the Barry’s are “stuck waiting in a bureaucratic purgatory, increasingly worried the place they traveled so far to reach does not want them.” There is a bright spot though for those who do obtain work permits. New York Governor Hochul recently directed the New York State Department of Labor (DOL) to help connect asylum seekers to employment opportunities so they can begin working immediately after obtaining federal work authorization. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is also reporting a national labor shortage, noting that  “if every unemployed person in the country found a job, we would still have nearly 3 million open jobs.”  If only our government could heed the call and allow willing, abled, qualified individuals currently waiting adjudication of work permits the dignity of obtaining work authorization in a speedier manner we would see the benefits of immigration, and not view it as a burden on our social programs.