U.S. Seeing a Surge in Central American Asylum Seekers

At 17, he left Honduras for the United States.

He applied for political asylum, telling a judge that if he returned home, the gang that had slain his father would kill him, too.

Now 20, working as a gardener and living with his mother and siblings in Los Angeles, the man is one of a growing number of Central Americans asking for asylum. His claim was denied, and lawyers from the Central American Resource Center in Los Angeles are helping him appeal. {snip}

In the last five years, “credible fear” applications at the border have increased sevenfold, from just under 5,000 to more than 36,000, driven largely by an influx from El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

Advocates for the immigrants say the surge can be traced to worsening gang and drug violence in Central America. Others say people who cross the border are simply becoming more aware of asylum as an option.

“People used to think the only thing you could do was sneak across,” said Judy London, directing attorney of the Immigrants’ Rights Project at the Los Angeles pro bono law firm Public Counsel. “They’ve learned that you can just go up to a border agent and tell them you want asylum.”

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On Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing to address reports that the asylum system is being exploited, including by Mexican drug traffickers.

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Even with the recent increase, the number of asylum seekers is lower now than in the early 1990s, when a coup in Haiti and a court settlement in favor of Central Americans resulted in a flood of claims.

Most asylum applications are still made from inside the country, rather than by claiming credible fear at the border. People who are in the U.S. legally — on a tourist or business visa, for example — file “affirmative” applications, which have also increased, though not as rapidly as credible fear applications. Combined, the two categories have more than doubled in the last five years, exceeding 80,000 in fiscal year 2013. The number of people winning asylum has increased only slightly, with about 30,000 cases approved in 2012.

Statistics show that an immigrant’s chance of winning asylum depends largely on where he or she is from.

In 2012, more than 10,000 people from China were granted asylum, compared with just 126 Mexicans and 234 Hondurans, according to federal data. Immigration court figures, which do not include cases approved in an initial hearing by an asylum officer, show a success rate of nearly 50% for Chinese versus 1% for Mexicans.

Still, the process buys time. Almost 90% of credible fear applicants pass an initial screening interview, which allows them to live and work in the U.S. until their cases are resolved — often a matter of years.

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Still, immigration attorney Eric Price tells his Mexican and Central American clients that it may be worth filing an asylum case, even if they end up losing.

“Three uncertain years in the safety of L.A. is much better than three years of certain threat in Guatemala,” Price said. Besides, he added, the denial of asylum doesn’t always result in a deportation order, thanks to an initiative by President Obama that allows immigration officials discretion in whom they deport.

At last week’s congressional hearing, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) accused some asylum seekers of “gaming the system,” adding: “They essentially get free education, free healthcare.”

Fraud has been an issue, with underground asylum industries thriving in some ethnic communities.

Last year in New York, 26 people, including six attorneys, were indicted on charges that they manufactured asylum claims and coached Chinese clients on how to lie to immigration authorities. One church employee allegedly provided religious training so applicants could pass as Christians.

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