Marty Logan

Sonam fled Tibet for Nepal so that she could freely practise her religion and become a Buddhist nun. In Nepal she joined a convent, but then abruptly left it because she feared authorities would send her back to Tibet. Sonam arrived at Washington, DC’s in August 2003, travelling on a false passport. She was jailed on arrival and her application for parole was denied, despite the fact that a US citizen, an expert on the plight of Tibetan nuns, visited her in prison and was willing to vouch for her. On Nov. 18, an immigration judge ruled that Sonam was entitled to asylum, but as she was being congratulated, she was handcuffed and returned to prison while the US attorney general contemplated an appeal of the decision. On Dec. 18 an attorney filed that appeal; Sonam remains in jail.

Such treatment of people who seek asylum in the US has increased following the administration’s launch of its “war on terrorism” after the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, says a new report by the Lawyer’s Committee for Human Rights (LCHR). Topping the list of problems is what appears to be a new policy of blanket denial of parole applications in some US states, “though no such policy has been made public”, says LCHR.

Asylum seekers are often subject to detention without review by the justice system. Other immigrants, it points out, are granted that review. LCHR says the report is based on information gleaned over one year of monitoring the departments of Homeland Security (DHS) and Justice, a survey of lawyers who work with asylum seekers and interviews with the individuals themselves. The group says the US began closing the door on asylum seekers in 1996, when it started a policy of “expedited removal and mandatory detention”.

That meant immigration officials could reject asylum seekers at airports and other border points and order them removed; otherwise, they faced mandatory detention in prisons or detention centres. Changes since 9/11 mean that getting freed from jail is proving even more difficult for many asylum seekers, it adds. It quotes DHS Secretary Tom Ridge defending the policy on Mar. 18, 2003: “We just want to make sure that those who are seeking asylum, number one, are who they say they are and, two, are legitimately seeking refuge in our country because of political repression at home.”

In March, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers said, “Detention of asylum seekers should be the exception, not the rule, and should be based on an individualised assessment of the security risk the person poses”. A UNHCR press release pointed out that, “US asylum law and the 1951 Refugee Convention exclude any persons engaged in terrorist acts from refugee protection”, making the new policy unnecessary.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) backs the stance of the UNHCR, stating, “Detention should not be used if there are effective monitoring mechanisms, such as

reporting obligations that offer a viable

alternative to detention. When detention is necessary, it should last for only a

‘minimal’ period.”

According to the UNHCR, more than 393,000 people are now seeking asylum in the US. On Thursday, two of seekers, from Ukraine, described how they were jailed for three years, released in Pennsylvania state after a judge decided they risked torture if returned to Ukraine, and then detained again after the DHS appealed that decision. They are now being held in a jail in Queens, in greater New York City.

LCHR Asylum Programme Director Eleanor Acer said Thursday that the DHS is increasingly appealing decisions to grant parole to asylum seekers.

The study recommends the government take certain steps to eliminate the problems facing asylum seekers. “First, create a new high-level refugee protection position in the Office of (DHS) Secretary Tom Ridge”. “Second, give asylum seekers the chance to have their detention reviewed by an immigration judge, like other immigration detainees. Third, put the official parole criteria for asylum seekers into formal regulations.” Strassberger said those suggestions are under review, and that the DHS “remains committed to providing a safe haven” for those seeking asylum.

IPS