Speaker 1: Hello, everyone. I am Matt Schaftell of Schaftell Law, and this is the first blog of one of three based on asylum. What I want to cover is the basics of asylum. The second blog is going to be about the history of refugee and asylum law and how it's changed over the years and what was the origin of this law as well, namely during World War II. And then three, my third blog is going to be about trends we've seen over the last couple of decades in asylum and refugee law. So let me start with an introduction on what is asylum and refugee law. The first key point and most important point is we hear both of these terms asylum seeker or asylee, if they're granted asylum, or a refugee. And they're used interchangeably, but they do mean slightly different things. And let me turn to the definition so you can see that I have them up on my screen. Let me just share my screen here. So basically, a asylee, someone seeking asylum, is somebody who meets the definition of refugee but is already in the US, while a refugee is someone found to meet this definition, but is outside the US. A refugee is determined by the United Nations, more specifically, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, which is their sub agency that determines who meets that definition. If the UN decides somebody is a refugee, they are then resettled to various countries throughout the world, including the US. An asylee is identical to a refugee, they meet the definition of refugee, but the only difference is they are at our doorstep in the US, which means they're at a port of entry along one of our land ports of entry along both of our borders, or even they're applying after arriving at the airport, saying that they are seeking asylum. So they are already here, or they're internally already in the US, they could have arrived illegally or arrived with a visa and overstayed and now are making the case that they meet the definition. Okay, so that's the difference between a refugee and asylee. They're very similar except based on where you are applying from. Now let's look at that actual definition. A common misconception is that you can seek asylum, or basically be designated a refugee just based on any type of risk in your country. If your country is particularly violent or unstable, or had a natural disaster, you can seek refugee and asylee status. That's a misconception that is not accurate, it's not that broad. Let's look more specifically at the definition. The first part of the definition is the person is unwilling or unable to return to their country based on a significant, what they call a well-founded fear of persecution. What is persecution? Persecution is they are already some experienced significant bodily harm, or forced detention, forced imprisonment. It can also be severe kind of deprivation of human rights, or even very severe discrimination. That's kind of defined in the regulations and through kind of case law. But those are kind of the basic contours of what persecution is. But it can't be persecution for any reason, here is the second, you know, most significant limitation of who is a refugee or asylee. It has to be based on your race, your religion, your nationality, your political opinion, or a particular social group. The particular social group is the most kind of nebulous of each of those types of what they call grounds for asylum, or refugee status. Particular social group has developed over the years, it can cover a number of other different groups, such as women in certain countries who are persecuted severely, as well as a number of other types of groups. But it does have to fit within those contours. And so it's not just for anybody from a very dangerous country. Okay, so those are the basics. The last thing I want to mention, let me stop my screen share here for a second, is that refugees, the number each year, the number of refugees, refugees, the number each year are limited by the President. Every year, the President says, this is how many refugees we're letting in. Currently, it's at 125,000 per year. In contrast, asylees, those who are already here, or who have made it to our doorstep, our ports of entry, those are unlimited. They're unlimited based on the idea that if they're already here, we're not going to send them back if they meet the definition because it's too risky for them, they face too high a risk of persecution, which again, means typically significant bodily harm, or even death. Okay, so that's one key difference. Those are the basics of kind of definitions within asylum law. My next blog is going to kind of talk about the history and genesis of asylum law. Thank you very much.