Asylum seekers search for a home away from home.
Immigration and asylum laws serve to establish some control over the volume of immigrants entering into a country. People who are persecuted on religious, ethnic, social, and political grounds are entitled to asylum. Asylum is different from immigration since it gives a special status to those fleeing from particular adversities targeted against them, such as war, genocide or oppression, and in need of refuge.
The Geneva Convention (1951) and Refugee Protocol (1967)
America and many other countries offer a desired haven for refugees.
The Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 describes an immigrant as "any person who is outside their country of origin and unable or unwilling to return there or to avail themselves of its protection, on account of a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular group, or political opinion." The Geneva Convention and the Refugee Protocol defines and provides the justifications by which an individual can claim asylum. In the wake of World War II, a new need arose to shelter victims of criminal attacks. Provisions of non-refoulement were designed to ensure that refugees and asylum seekers cannot be driven back to countries where their lives would surely be endangered.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Events such as war, famine and pestilence force people to seek refuge elsewhere.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 addresses many human rights, including four prominent human rights which influence immigration and asylum: everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state; everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country; everyone has the right to a nationality and may not be deprived of that nationality or refused the right to change his nationality; and everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
The Refugee Act (1980)
In the Refugee Act of 1980, Congress enacted a law which addressed the special humanitarian needs of refuges escaping from persecution in their native lands. Under the Refugee Act, the government would take particular steps to ensure that proper procedures are in place to deal with refugee status applications. Title I, Section 101 of the Act states that "Congress declares that it is the historic policy of the United States to respond to the urgent needs of persons subject to persecution in their homelands, including, where appropriate, humanitarian assistance for their care and maintenance in asylum areas, efforts to promote opportunities for resettlement or voluntary repatriation, aid for necessary transportation and processing, (providing) admission to this country."
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