International

# Asylees and Refugees# International

Book Review: The Refugee System by Rawan Arar and David Scott FitzGerald

Perhaps you’ve heard the parable of the blind men and the elephant. A king summons blind men from his kingdom and asks each one to examine an elephant. One man feels the elephant’s head and says that he’s touching a pot. Another man feels the elephant’s side and describes a wall. A third man touches the elephant’s leg and talks about a tree trunk. One lesson of this story: Unless we have enough information, it’s difficult to determine the truth.

That’s also the lesson of a new book, The Refugee System, by Professors Rawan Arar and David Scott FitzGerald. The book argues that many academics and policymakers view the refugee system too narrowly. Instead of seeing the bigger picture, they focus only on the elements of the refugee system that relate to their area of interest. This type of “siloed” approach has real-world implications for those seeking protection and for the nations that host them.

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By Jason Dzubow
# Human Rights# International

Remembering Queen Elizabeth’s First Public Speech – About Refugees

The longest-serving British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, passed away last week. The Queen leaves a complicated legacy that has touched many aspects of life in Britain and the world beyond. She became queen in 1952, when women with power were few and far between. For the next seven decades, she steered the monarchy into the modern era. While she served as a spiritual and moral leader for her nation and the British Commonwealth, she rarely opined about political issues. Perhaps her effort to stay “above” politics helped her serve as a unifying force in Great Britain, where she remained widely respected, admired, and loved until her death last week at age 96.

In this post, I want to remember one small, but significant, incident from the Queen’s long life–the very first public speech she gave as a 14-year old princess on BBC’s Children’s Hour.

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By Jason Dzubow
# Human Rights# Immigration# International

Helping Ukrainians

USCIS recently announced a unique program to assist Ukrainians affected by the current war. Called Uniting for Ukraine, the program “provides a pathway for Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members who are outside the United States to come to the United States and stay temporarily in a two-year period of parole.” The program is unique in that the Ukrainian beneficiaries must be chosen by U.S.-based sponsors. The government will vet the sponsors “to ensure that they are able to financially support the individual whom they agree to support” and then start the process of bringing the chosen Ukrainian to the United States.

Here, we’ll look at why the U.S. government created this program and how it works.

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By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# International

Asylum for Russian Defectors

Last week, Vladimir Putin and his supporters launched a vicious and unjustified war against Ukraine. The war is an act of mass murder and terror against the people of Ukraine. Given Mr. Putin’s history of oppression at home and violent interventions abroad, there is little reason to be optimistic about how (or when) this war will end. And of course, there is a real danger that the situation will escalate into something much larger.

It is unclear how much support the war has from ordinary Russians. Perhaps many within Russia have been misled by “President” Putin’s propaganda machine, which has repeatedly and falsely accused the Ukrainian government of persecuting Russian speakers in Ukraine, and which has painted the war in terms of Russia standing up to the West. While Mr. Putin’s popularity seems to have increased before fighting started, there are signs that many Russian’s are not buying what he is selling. Indeed, protests have continued throughout the country despite a government crackdown.

And what of Russians living abroad? They are less likely to be swayed by Mr. Putin’s false propaganda, as they have access to more reliable sources of news. My sense is that most Russians in the diaspora oppose the current war.

In this post, I am interested in a specific sub-set of Russians living outside their country: Diplomats and other government employees. If such people defect to protest the unjust war against Ukraine, would they be eligible for political asylum or some other relief in the United States?

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By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# International

Asylum for Capitol Rioters

I suppose it was inevitable that some of the Trump supporters charged in the attack on our Capitol would seek asylum overseas. These people are already pre-disposed to victimhood, and so it makes sense that some would see their prosecution–for harming law enforcement officers, threatening government workers, disrupting an election, damaging federal property, and trespassing–as a form of persecution.

Also, there are plenty of governments around the world that want to harm our country by sowing division and encouraging further violence. And so it’s hardly surprising that certain nations would be only too happy to offer asylum to the Capitol rioters, as a way to stick it to the United States.

We now have our first (known) example of a Capitol rioter seeking asylum abroad. Evan Neumann is wanted in the U.S. on charges of violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol grounds, and for assaulting, resisting and obstructing law enforcement during civil disorder. He has fled to Belarus and applied for asylum. It would be easy to mock Mr. Neumann and the “Republic” of Belarus, but here, I want to discuss whether Mr. Neumann might qualify for asylum under international law.

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By Jason Dzubow
# Asylees and Refugees# International

On the Morality of Deporting Criminals

National Public Radio recently reported on the Trump Administration’s efforts to deport Vietnamese refugees with criminal convictions. Currently, Vietnam only accepts deportees who entered the United States after 1995, but the Trump Administration wants to convince Vietnam to accept all of its nationals with removal orders, regardless of when they came to the U.S. If … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# Human Rights# Immigration# International

Of Caravans and Consequences

As thousands of asylum seekers approach the Southern border in “caravans,” the Trump Administration is reacting harshly. Border Patrol Agents fired tear gas at men, women, and children. The crossing at San Ysidro has been closed, resulting in significant economic losses in San Diego (businesses on the U.S. side earn between $10 and $15 million per day from Mexican … Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylees and Refugees# International

Fridtjof Nansen, WWI, and the Beginning of the Modern Refugee Regime

This week–on November 11–marked the 100th anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War I. In terms of refugee law, the Great War is usually eclipsed by WWII, which gave rise to the Refugee Convention (in 1951). The Convention forms the basis for our international and domestic humanitarian law up until today. But the First World War was also foundational … Read more

By Jason Dzubow