Publications

The United States is abandoning its commitment to protect people from persecution, condemning thousands to return to their country of origin or a third country where they may face torture or death. Dismantling the asylum process violates both U.S. and international law. The international community recognized, after World War II, that countries must provide protection to people facing persecution and torture on account of characteristics they cannot or should not have to change: political opinion, religion, race, nationality, or membership in a particular social group. The United States codified these obligations by ratifying the 1967 Protocol to the Refugee Convention and passing the 1980 Refugee Act. People who flee their country of origin to seek asylum at a U.S. border or within the United States are complying with the legal process Congress established in the Refugee Act.