The U.S. Asylum System: Understanding the Challenges

To protect refugees from persecution, Congress required the Executive Branch to establish procedures that would enable adjudicators to identify which individuals qualify for asylum.  How well has the system fared since its creation in 1990?  What are the major challenges for the U.S. government in living up to its statutory and international treaty obligations to protect refugees?

Andrew I. Schoenholtz is a Professor of Practice at Georgetown Law, where he co-directs the Center for Applied Legal Studies, the asylum clinic in which students represent refugees fleeing persecution who seek asylum in the United States. He also directs the Certificate in Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies and serves as the faculty director of the Human Rights Institute. He has taught courses on Refugee Law and Policy, Refugees and Humanitarian Emergencies, and Immigration Law and Policy, as well as a practicum on the rights of detained immigrants. Prior to teaching at Georgetown, Professor Schoenholtz served as Deputy Director of the US Commission on Immigration Reform. He also practiced immigration, asylum, and international law with the Washington, DC law firm of Covington & Burling. He has conducted fact-finding missions in Haiti, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Croatia, Bosnia, Malawi, and Zambia to study root causes of forced migration, refugee protection, long-term solutions to mass migration emergencies, and humanitarian relief operations.