Number Of Migrants Seeking U.S. Asylum Spikes

While issues surrounding immigrants and refugees dominate the dialogue going into the presidential election, the number of people arriving at U.S. gateways filing for asylum to enter the country has increased by 10 times what it was in 2009, new data shows.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the agency that processes those applications, released figures showing the massive increase in “credible fear” applications over the last seven years, following President Barack Obama’s executive action that ensured parole into the country for asylum seekers while their applications pend, rather than waiting in custody. Though few are ultimately approved for asylum, the vast majority — approximately 90 percent — are allowed into the country for credible fear and are not deported with high priority. Less than 10 percent are granted asylum.

Most of these applicants — 64 percent of whom file with the Houston, Texas, asylum office — are families that come from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and other Central American countries, with 80 percent coming from those three countries since 2014.

Roughly 15 percent, or 11,000 applicants, have come from Mexico since 2014, while nearly 14,500 have come from Guatemala, 17,000 from Honduras, and 30,500 from El Salvador.

The report’s author, USCIS director of policy studies Jessica Vaughan, ultimately concluded in her work that Obama’s catch-and-release program for credible fear applicants is excessive and recommended that the next White House administration instead changes the law to make applicants submit their applications at an American consulate in Mexico and wait there to see if they are approved.

“Contrary to the impression given by the Obama administration and advocacy groups, we are not obliged to accept this flood of illegal arrivals and offer them entry to our country,” Vaughan said, according to Numbers USA. “This influx is not a force of nature, nor a consequence of events abroad; it is the result of the Obama administration’s catch-and-release policy.”

Sources: USCIS, Numbers USA / Photo credit: Office of Representative Phil Gingrey/Wikimedia Commons