Top Myths About #Asylum and why you should care:
Myth: Asylum seekers should file at US consulates in their home countries.
Reality: Asylum can only be sought at the border or inside the US. US consulates do not accept asylum applications.
Myth: Asylum seekers should file at US consulates in their home countries.
Reality: Asylum can only be sought at the border or inside the US. US consulates do not accept asylum applications.
Myth: Asylum seekers must present themselves at a port of entry.
Reality: The law (8 USC 1158) specifically says a person may apply for asylum whether they enter legally or not.
They can be technically prosecuted for unlawful entry, but that doesn't prevent asylum.
Reality: The law (8 USC 1158) specifically says a person may apply for asylum whether they enter legally or not.
They can be technically prosecuted for unlawful entry, but that doesn't prevent asylum.
Myth: Asylum is only for political persecution, not for fear of gangs and terrorists.
Reality: There is NO requirement in the law that an asylum seeker's fear be politically based.
I've won many gang and terrorist related cases.
Reality: There is NO requirement in the law that an asylum seeker's fear be politically based.
I've won many gang and terrorist related cases.
Myth: Asylum seekers are economic migrants from failed states.
Reality: Any person who is forcibly displaced should (and often does) have a case for asylum. The law must (and does) provide a guarantee of the right to at least try.
Reality: Any person who is forcibly displaced should (and often does) have a case for asylum. The law must (and does) provide a guarantee of the right to at least try.
Myth: Asylum seekers are illegally immigrating.
Reality: Asylum seeking is not only perfectly legal, it is a human right.
There is no right to asylum, but there is a right to seek it.
Reality: Asylum seeking is not only perfectly legal, it is a human right.
There is no right to asylum, but there is a right to seek it.
Myth: Asylum must be sought in the first safe country after leaving home.
Reality: There is no such law. And the United States guarantees the right to apply in the US. There may be other bars that may be applicable, but that doesn't affect the right to apply.
Reality: There is no such law. And the United States guarantees the right to apply in the US. There may be other bars that may be applicable, but that doesn't affect the right to apply.
Why you should care:
1. Attacks on asylum seekers is a part of the administration's unchecked executive power. If they can do it to asylum seekers, they'll do it to other aspiring citizens, the sick, the poor, the disenfranchised.
It's an attack on #ChecksAndBalances.
1. Attacks on asylum seekers is a part of the administration's unchecked executive power. If they can do it to asylum seekers, they'll do it to other aspiring citizens, the sick, the poor, the disenfranchised.
It's an attack on #ChecksAndBalances.
2. What kind of country do we want to be? Will we take in and empower the few who come, while helping stabilize their home countries, or do the shortsighted and misguided thing and close off the border, succumbing to racism?
This is about WHO WE ARE and who we want to be.
This is about WHO WE ARE and who we want to be.
3. Compassion is strength, while cruelty is weakness. It may be complex to process all those asylum claims, but it's necessary. Helping asylum seekers is not mutually exclusive of helping already-citizens.
We are our best when we stand up for each other as human beings.
We are our best when we stand up for each other as human beings.
