User:Imanqadir/Refugee law

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US Refugee Law

Various regions and countries have different variations of refugee law. They all stem from the 1951 Convention and the 1967 Protocol which relates to refugee status. The United States became a party to this protocol in 1968.

Despite playing an active role in the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United States has yet to ratify the treaty, making it the only nation in the UN that is not party to it.

Refugee status first emerged as a legal category in the United States in the 1940s, responding to an influx of Eastern Europeans fleeing Communism. In response to this influx, Congress established refugee migration as "distinct and separate from general immigration admissions" upon the recommendation from the House Committee on Postwar Immigration. The Committee argued that the right to seek asylum be made "an explicit part of United States immigration policy."

Although the aftermath of World War II brought forth a refugee crisis, the large influx and resettlement of Indochinese refugees led to the passage of the Refugee Act of 1980. This law incorporated the International Convention's definitions of a refugee into U.S. law. In doing so, it codified into US law that a refugee was an individual with a "well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion." Furthermore, ratifying this Convention meant the elimination of previous "ideological and geographical discriminations" against refugee and asylum seekers. These discriminations were a result of previous US refugee law, which had served mainly as a tool for foreign policy agendas. The law also created the legal basis for the admission of refugees into the U.S. The Refugee Act of 1980 was the first time the United States created an objective decision-making process for asylum and refugee status. This included a joint system between Congress and the Presidency, in which both branches would collaborate to establish annual quotas and determine which national groups would receive prioritized consideration for refugee status. In doing so, the US shifted away from a relatively reactionary system, in which refugee laws were only passed in response to political changes in the international community, primarily the spread of Communism. Instead, under the Refugee Act of 1980, the US established a comprehensive framework for addressing refugee crises preemptively. This framework was built on emerging ideals of "humanitarianism."

An important aspect of this law is how an individual goes about applying for status. A person may meet the definition of refugee but may not be granted refugee status. If the individual is inside of the U.S. with a different status or no status, they are granted the status of asylee but not refugee.

In order to be considered a refugee in the U.S., an individual must:

• be located outside of the U.S.
• be of specific humanitarian apprehension for the U.S.^{[clarification needed]}
• be able to validate previous persecution or feared approaching persecution based on the individual's race, religion, nationality, social class, or political outlook
• not be currently settled in another country
• be admissible to the U.S.

The first step of being granted this status is to receive a referral to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). The person is allowed to include their spouse, child, or other family members (only in specific circumstances) when applying for refugee status. After the person is referred, a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer located abroad will conduct an interview to determine refugee resettlement eligibility inside the US. If the person is approved as a refugee, they will then be provided with many forms of assistance. These include a loan for travel, advice for travel, a medical exam, and a culture orientation. After the refugee is resettled, they are eligible for medical and cash assistance. The Office of Refugee Resettlement has a program called the Cash and Medical Assistance Program which completely reimburses the assistance in which states provide refugees. The refugee is eligible for this cash and medical assistance up to eight months after their arrival date.

In the United States, refugees are subject to annual quotas, which are determined by a joint collaboration between the incumbent Presidential administration and Congress. In addition to establishing the annual quota, Congress and the President determine which national groups are of special humanitarian concern to the US. Since ratifying the 1980 Refugee Act, the United States has admitted over 3.1 million refugees from around the world, many of who were permanently resettled in the US. Prior to the Trump Administration, the United States was the global leader in admitting refugees and offered refugee status to more individuals than the rest of the world altogether. Under the Trump administration, refugee immigration laws faced many challenges and setbacks, as administration officials sought to rollback immigration laws and decrease the annual number of refugees admitted. Challenges to refugee law included contesting practices of non-refoulement, which has been a long-standing principle of the US immigration system. Attempts to reverse Trump-era policies have been a focus of the subsequent Biden presidential administration. In 2021, it was announced that Biden administration would raise the refugee cap from 15,000 individuals to 62,500 individuals.