Right to Asylum

U.S. law and the international Refugee Convention guarantee people the right to seek asylum.

Drafted in the wake of the horrors of World War II, these laws state that people fleeing persecution, torture, and death — regardless of their race, nationality, or how they arrive — have the legal right to seek asylum in the United States.

Despite these legal protections, asylum seekers face increasingly insurmountable barriers to protection, including family separations, rapid deportations, detention, and unlawful pushbacks at the border by the Department of Homeland Security.

Asylum seekers travel to the United States to escape violence, persecution, and other human rights abuses in their home countries.

Many arrive with limited resources and, even in the best of circumstances, must navigate a complex and restrictive immigration system. Black, Brown, and Indigenous people disproportionately face greater barriers to asylum.

The right to asylum in the U.S. has come under escalating attacks from both past and present administrations.

The second Trump administration has shut off the last remaining pathways to protection for people who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border and created significant additional barriers to asylum for people seeking safety from persecution and torture in their homelands.

At a time of unprecedented global humanitarian migration, better solutions exist.

Instead of spending billions of taxpayer dollars to detain and criminally prosecute people seeking life-saving legal protections, the U.S. government should invest in humane processing systems that uphold due process, allow people a fair opportunity to present their protection claims, and provide access to counsel that helps the system operate fairly and efficiently.

The National Immigrant Justice Center represents thousands of asylum seekers each year and is actively challenging these inhumane and illegal policies in federal court.