29 FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING? AN INVESTIGATION OF ASYLEE INTEGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES LINDSAY M. HARRIS ∞ ABSTRACT This article assesses the efficacy of the legal framework for asylees, individuals granted refugee status within the United States, through an examination of the human outcomes following the grant of asylum. To understand how the asylee benefits system actually functions, I conducted more than fifty field interviews with advocates, service providers, and government officials in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. This research fills a conspicuous gap in our understanding of what happens after the grant of asylum and reveals a number of insights about the ways in which the prevailing laws, policies, and programs yield suboptimal outcomes, even given the limited resources presently devoted to asylee integration. Interviews yielded important findings, including that the current legal structure and attendant administrative programs push asylees quickly into survival jobs, which are often a stark mismatch for their education and skills. For educated asylees, these survival jobs impede both English language acquisition, which is critical to successful integration, and re-credentialing to allow recognition of education and expertise acquired overseas. For less educated asylees, the rush to employment in a survival job similarly delays and potentially undermines successful integration and may result in future costs to counties, states, and the federal government. The subsequent financial distress asylees experience plays a role in housing instability and delays in applying for permanent residence. These problems are compounded by limited ongoing mental health treatment for ∞ Legal Fellow with the American Immigration Council focused on efforts to end detention of immigrant families. The author will join the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law as an Assistant Professor in summer 2016. For insight shared and support in writing this article, I am grateful to my colleagues and Professors Laila Hlass, David Koplow, Michelle McKinley, Karen Musalo, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Andrew Schoenholtz, Philip Schrag, Jeffrey Selbin, and the Honorable William Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. I am also indebted to the skilled attorneys and brilliant minds of Heidi Altman, Laurie Ball Cooper, Dree Collopy, and Brian Israel. This article benefitted from feedback shared by participants of the 2014 New York University School of Law Clinical Writers’ Workshop and the 2015 Emerging Immigration Scholars’ Conference hosted by the University of Miami School of Law. Above all, my deepest thanks are due to those interviewed for the study, including tireless advocates for asylum seekers and asylees, along with dedicated government officials. All errors are my own.
FROM SURVIVING TO THRIVING? AN INVESTIGATION OF ASYLEE INTEGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES
Aug 03, 2023
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