Asylum in the United States

A specified number of legally defined refugees who are granted refugee status outside the United States are annually admitted under for firm resettlement. Other people enter the United States with or without inspection, and apply for asylum under section 1158.

Asylum in the United States has two specific requirements. First, asylum applicants must be physically present in the United States, or at a designated port of arrival. Second, they must show that they suffered persecution in the past, or have a well-founded fear of future persecution in their country of nationality and permanent residency on account of at least one of the five protected grounds: race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

Even if an individual meets the criteria for asylum, INA § 208, bars some asylum seekers from asylum. These restrictions fall into two categories: (1) limitations on the ability to apply for asylum and (2) limitations on the ability to be granted asylum.

The majority of asylum claims in the United States fail or are rejected. While asylum denial rates had grown to a peak of 71 percent in FY 2020, they fell to 63 percent in FY 2021. One third of asylum seekers go to courts unrepresented although those with legal representation have higher chances of winning.

More than three million refugees from various countries around the world have been admitted to the United States since 1980. In recent years, the number of refugees admitted by the U.S. has fluctuated due to changes in government policies. For example, the U.S. resettled 84,995 refugees in the fiscal year 2016. The number of refugees admitted declined significantly, with only 11,814 admitted in the fiscal year 2020. The Biden administration gradually increased the refugee ceiling to 125,000 per year and admitted a total of 235,000 refugees between the years of 2021-2025. The Trump administration has cut the 2026 annual ceiling to 7,500, the lowest ever in the program's history, stating that "The admissions numbers shall primarily be allocated among Afrikaners from South Africa."

History

Character of refugee inflows and resettlement

During the Cold War, and up until the mid-1990s, the majority of refugees resettled in the U.S. were people from the former-Soviet Union and Southeast Asia. The most conspicuous of the latter were the refugees from Vietnam following the Vietnam War, sometimes known as "boat people". Following the end of the Cold War, the largest resettled European group were refugees from the Balkans, primarily Serbs, from Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia. In the 1990s and 2000s, the proportion of Africans rose in the annual resettled population, as many people fled various ongoing conflicts.

Large metropolitan areas have been the destination of most resettlements, with 72% of all resettlements between 1983 and 2004 going to 30 locations. The historical gateways for resettled refugees have been California (specifically Los Angeles, Orange County, San Jose, and Sacramento), the Mid-Atlantic region (New York in particular), the Midwest (specifically Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis–Saint Paul), and Northeast (Providence, Rhode Island). In the last decades of the twentieth century, Northern Virginia; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; and Atlanta, Georgia provided new gateways for resettled refugees. Particular cities are also identified with some national groups: metropolitan Los Angeles received almost half of the resettled refugees from Iran, 20% of Iraqi refugees went to Detroit, and nearly one-third of refugees from the former Soviet Union were resettled in and around New York City.

Between 2004 and 2007, nearly 4,000 Venezuelans claimed political asylum in the United States and almost 50% of them were granted. In comparison, in 1996, 328 Venezuelans claimed asylum and 20% of them were granted. According to USA Today, the number of asylums being granted to Venezuelan claimants has risen from 393 in 2009 to 969 in 2012. Other sources confirmed that between 2000 and 2010 the United States granted asylum to 4,500 immigrants from Venezuela.

Sanctuary Movement

As a pushback to hostile migration policies, many religious groups came together in the 1980s to provide safety for Central American migrants seeking refuge from civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala. The movement, tied to the right of asylum that has been built into Western law since Ancient Greece and was built into the Christian faith. While this started as a religious movement meant mainly to protect refugees in need, it became quickly politicized, with many sanctuary movement leaders facing trial for going against the law. Sanctuaries have since played an important role in providing legal access and preventing deportation for asylum seekers, especially under the Trump administration.

Relevant law and procedures

"Under the [INA], the Attorney General may grant asylum to individuals who meet several statutory requirements, including that they have suffered or fear (1) 'persecution,' (2) 'on account of,' (3) their 'race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.'"INA section 208, ("Asylum"). The United States framework on migration is securitization, focusing on the safety of citizens. This results in strict U.S. policies and laws surrounding immigration and asylum.

The United States is obliged to recognize valid claims for asylum under the United Nations' 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. As defined by these agreements, a refugee is a person who is outside their country of nationality (or place of habitual residence if stateless) who, owing to a fear of persecution on account of a protected ground, is unable or unwilling to avail himself of the protection of the state. Protected grounds include race, nationality, religion, political opinion and membership of a particular social group. The signatories to these agreements are further obliged not to return or "refoul" refugees to countries or places where they would face persecution.

This commitment was codified and expanded by the United States Congress with the passing of the Refugee Act of 1980. Besides reiterating the definitions of the 1951 Convention and its Protocol, the Refugee Act provided for the establishment of an Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to help refugees begin their lives in the U.S. The structure and procedures evolved and by 2004, federal handling of refugee affairs was led by PRM, working with the ORR at HHS. Asylum claims are mainly the responsibility of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Refugee quotas Each year, the President of the United States sends a proposal to the Congress for the maximum number of refugees to be admitted for the upcoming fiscal year, as specified under INA section 207(e). This number, known as the "refugee ceiling", is the target of annual lobbying by both refugee advocates seeking to raise it and anti-immigration groups seeking to lower it. However, once proposed, the ceiling is normally accepted without substantial Congressional debate and does not require Congressional approval. The September 11, 2001 attacks resulted in a substantial disruption to the processing of resettlement claims with actual admissions falling to about 26,000 in fiscal year 2002. Claims were double-checked for any suspicious activity and procedures were put in place to detect any possible terrorist infiltration. Nonetheless, some advocates noted that, given the ease with which foreigners can otherwise legally enter the country, entry as a refugee is comparatively unlikely. The actual number of admitted refugees rose in subsequent years with refugee ceiling for 2006 at 70,000. In October 2025, the Trump administration lowered the refugee ceiling from 125,000 to 7,500 – the lowest ever recorded in the program's history.

Recent actual, projected and proposed refugee admissions Year Africa % East Asia % Europe % Latin Americaand Caribbean % Near East andSouth Asia % Unallocatedreserve Total FY 2012 actual arrivals 10,608 18.21 14,366 24.67 1,129 1.94 2,078 3.57 30,057 51.61 - 58,238 FY 2013 ceiling 12,000 17,000 2,000 5,000 31,000 3,000 70,000 FY 2013 actual arrivals 15,980 22.85 16,537 23.65 580 0.83 4,439 6.35 32,389 46.32 - 69,925 FY 2014 ceiling 15,000 14,000 1,000 5,000 33,000 2,000 70,000 FY 2014 actual arrivals 17,476 24.97 14,784 21.12 959 1.37 4,318 6.17 32,450 46.36 - 69,987 FY 2015 ceiling 17,000 13,000 1,000 4,000 33,000 2,000 70,000 FY 2015 actual arrivals 22,472 32.13 18,469 26.41 2,363 3.38 2,050 2.93 24,579 35.14 - 69,933 FY 2016 ceiling 25,000 13,000 4,000 3,000 34,000 6,000 85,000 FY 2016 actual arrivals 31,625 37.21 12,518 14.73 3,957 4.65 1,340 1.57 35,555 41.83 - 84,995 FY 2017 ceiling 35,000 12,000 4,000 5,000 40,000 14,000 110,000 FY 2017 actual arrivals 20,232 37.66 5,173 9.63 5,205 9.69 1,688 3.14 21,418 39.87 - 53,716 FY 2018 ceiling 19,000 5,000 2,000 1,500 17,500 - 45,000 FY 2018 actual arrivals 10,459 46.50 3,668 16.31 3,612 16.06 955 4.25 3,797 16.88 - 22,491 FY 2019 ceiling 11,000 4,000 3,000 3,000 9,000 - 30,000 FY 2019 actual arrivals 16,366 54.55 5,030 16.77 4,994 16.65 809 2.70 2,801 9.34 - 30,000 FY 2020 ceiling – – – – – - 18,000 FY 2020 actual arrivals 4,160 35.21 2,129 18.02 2,578 21.82 948 8.02 1,999 16.92 - 11,814 FY 2021 ceiling – – – – – - 62,500 FY 2021 actual arrivals 6,219 54.50 776 6.80 983 8.61 400 3.50 3,033 26.58 - 11,411 FY 2022 ceiling – – – – – - 125,000 FY 2022 actual arrivals 11,358 44.6 2,215 8.69 2,3519.23 2,485 9.75 7,056 27.70 - 25,465FY 2023 ceiling–––––125,000FY 2023 actual arrivals24,53040.876,26210.432,7654.606,31210.5120,19433.6460,014FY 2024 ceiling125,000FY 2024 actual arrivals34,017347,5407.533,1803.1825,35825.3529,93929.93100,034FY 2025 ceiling125,000FY 2025 actual arrivals12,28132.233,6759.658162.148,35321.9212,97734.0538,102FY 2026 ceiling7,500

Application for resettlement by refugees abroad

The majority of applications for resettlement to the United States are made to U.S. embassies in foreign countries and are reviewed by employees of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). In these cases, refugee status has normally already been reviewed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and recognized by the host country. For these refugees, the U.S. has stated its preferred order of solutions are: (1) repatriation of refugees to their country of origin, (2) integration of the refugees into their country of asylum and, last, (3) resettlement to a third country, such as the U.S., when the first two options are not viable.

The United States prioritizes valid applications for resettlement into 3 levels.

Priority One Persons facing compelling security concerns in countries of first asylum; persons in need of legal protection because of the danger of refoulement; those in danger due to threats of armed attack in an area where they are located; or persons who have experienced recent persecution because of their political, religious, or human rights activities (prisoners of conscience); women-at-risk; victims of torture or violence, physically or mentally disabled persons; persons in urgent need of medical treatment not available in the first asylum country; and persons for whom other durable solutions are not feasible and whose status in the place of asylum does not present a satisfactory long-term solution. – UNHCR Resettlement Handbook

Priority Two