These are not persons seeking access to our country illegally. coming across the Rio Grande or the Canadian border or some other nefarious way. They are persons who. by definition. the State Departmentand by direction of the President. working with the Judiciary Committees of Congresshas permitted to enter because they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs. Asylees are immigrants who meet the same standards as refugees except they have made it to the United States on their own and applied for permission to stay to avoid having to return to a dangerous situation of jeopardy in their country of origin. It is not easy to gain either category status. In order to gain admission as a refugee or asylee. someone ordinarily must show that he or she has "a wellfounded fear of persecution in his or her own country of origin." The mere fact the wouldbe immigrants native country is repressive or enmeshed in civil war is insufficient to support application for refugee or asylum status. The applicant must be able to show individually that he or she is specifically and personally at risk. Many people who have not been able to satisfy this strict standard have been imprisoned or killed by oppressive regimes as they went back. sadly enough.
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refugees immigrants asylum status refugee