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Land of the Free?

Detained immigrants struggle to find asylum in the U.S.

Abdulai Bah

In September 2000, eighteen-year old Abdulai Bah arrived at Newark International Airport in New Jersey. He was desperate, scared, and alone, on the run from the civil war that was then raging in his native Sierra Leone.

Abdulai was undocumented and officials at the airport questioned, fingerprinted, handcuffed, and took him to the Elizabeth (New Jersey) Immigration Detention Center. Abdulai spent nearly four months in detention before Marguerite Marty, the staff attorney with AFSC's Immigrant Rights Program in Newark, New Jersey, helped him secure asylum.

Despite his ordeal, Abdulai says he was lucky. "I knew people still in detention when I left, and most of them were sent back to their countries," says Abdulai, who's now in school, working, and committed to educating people about the experiences and effects of detention on asylum seekers.

A big "if"

AFSC staff in Newark agree that Abdulai's case was unusual. The average stay in detention, for example, is six to eight months. Many detainees also have nowhere to go if they're granted asylum-an increasingly big "if" since 9/11.

"There's been a huge increase in the number of people getting picked up and detained, but a decrease in the number of people getting asylum," Marguerite says. "It makes a difference if you have a lawyer."

Newark staff work on the legal cases of a limited number of Elizabeth Detention Center detainees, refer many others to lawyers, and help those granted asylum get settled in the United States.

Staff also make know-your-rights presentations at the detention center and answer the questions of detainees and their families. The program helps asylee* associations to network and advocate for themselves.

AFSC's services are welcomed by detainees who deal with multiple frustrations. At the top of the list is the open-ended nature of detention. "You don't know how long it will be," Abdulai recalls.

In addition, conditions at the Elizabeth Detention Center are harsh: detainees sleep in large rooms with thirty or forty others, everyone wears a "uniform," there's no outdoor facility, and detainees must talk via phone to visitors who sit on the other side of a glass partition.

Furthermore, asylees know little about how to access the services necessary to establish new lives in the United States, notes Will Coley, the project coordinator who oversees the Newark office's transitional emergency assistance program.

The project helps asylees with details such as getting working papers in order, finding a job and a place to live, and obtaining a driver's license.

As Will notes, "Knowing that we helped someone effectively start over is very rewarding."

Asylum ABCs

Any documented or undocumented immigrant who enters the United States may request asylum. To obtain asylum, they must prove that they have been persecuted in the past or fear persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.

The process of applying for asylum is complex. It requires filling out various forms, gathering documents and evidence, and the assistance of an immigration attorney. This is much more difficult if the applicant is detained. In 2002, a total of 9,260 arriving asylum seekers were detained.

By the numbers

A quick look at asylum statistics confirms that Abdulai Bah's case beat the odds. Between 1989 and September 2003, here's how immigration judges decided the cases of both detained and non-detained asylum seekers*:

Granted: 78,819 Denied: 217,705 Pending (as of Sept. 2003): 72,745

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