"Workshop: Analysis of Country Conditions and Decision-Making on Asylum Claims."

American University, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

General Summary: Recent years have witnessed a sharp increase in undocumented migration to the United States by minors and families with children seeking refuge from violence in their home countries. This influx of migrants is straining the capacity of the U.S. immigration system to adjudicate their claims, and is taxing an already overburdened community of attorneys available to provide legal assistance. One especially challenging issue that arises from these cases is that the nature of the dangers cited by applicants as motivating them to flee their home countries do not fit easily into the categories of persecution that are established in asylum law and related jurisprudence. This conference brings together leading social scientists with expertise on the conditions driving the migration from and on the psycho-social impacts of the migration experience, with legal scholars who specialize on refugee and asylum law. The objective is to share insights across disciplinary perspectives in order to enhance scholarship, and better to inform lawyers and other practitioners working with this population. Technical Summary: In order to foster the cross-disciplinary collaboration that can inform the efficient, equitable adjudication of asylum cases submitted by newly arrived youth and families, this workshop will convene an international group of social scientists and legal scholars with expertise across three key priority areas: 1) country conditions; 2) psychological assessment of asylum seekers; and 3) asylum adjudication and evolving jurisprudence on asylum law in the U.S. The core objectives of the workshop will be to: 1) connect existing networks of researchers on socio-political dynamics in the region with behavioral scientists engaged in asylum seeker assessment and legal scholars on asylum law and adjudication processes; 2) develop an agenda for research to document forms of persecution in the region, informed by legal experts on substantive criteria and evidentiary standards for asylum claims; 3) discuss current scholarship on the applicability of refugee law to present-day humanitarian challenges and on refugee adjudication, and identify gaps in theoretical understandings of legal decision-making and methodological challenges to advancing research in this area; and 4) propose innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to analyzing adjudication outcomes of these cases as well as their influence on evolving jurisprudence on asylum claims.