Another angle on the immigration debate, Persecuted Gays Seek Refuge in U.S. From the Washington Post:
Harassment and abuse of gay men and lesbians is becoming increasingly accepted as grounds for legal asylum in the United States, even at a time of conservative judicial activism, fear about HIV/AIDS transmission and increased scrutiny of asylum seekers.
[But]...such asylum cases are still extremely difficult to win, according to lawyers in Washington and elsewhere.
And, of course, the inability of non-U.S. partners of U.S. citizens to receive citizenship (as hetero spouses do) or to otherwise legally reside here for "family reunification" is another bitter gay-immigration overlap.
23 Comments for “Asylum Seeking”
posted by Rhywun on
This is to say nothing of countries where gays, while not exactly “persecuted”, still have no hope of living of living any kind of full life. I dated a guy from one such country for four years, until the visa ran out and he went back home to play the “confirmed bachelor”.
posted by Audrey B on
Hey Rhywun, which do you like better, Hit & Run or Culture Watch? (I’m asking because he often post there.) Me, I like Hit & Run, but that’s because it has more snark and greater variety of posts. Snark and variety are not the point of Culture Watch, so I guess it’s moot.
posted by Xeno on
Gay refugees are better off going to Canada instead. However, the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada needs a serious overhaul ever since the responsible minister stacked the board with political lackeys, some with no experience at all in the field of immigration and refugee assistance, instead of technocratic professionals from the civil service.
At the moment there’s a sad case of a young refugee from Nicaragua named Alvaro Orozco who’s having problems with those idiots. I hope he gets to stay legally.
posted by Rhywun on
Audrey B,
This is my first time here in years. Someone at Reason posted a link here and I checked it out. I used to read IGF years ago, before the days of RSS and before there were comments…
posted by Audrey B on
Trust me when I say that the comments boards are nothing but partisan bickering. Also, there is no piece of anti-gay policy that ND30 will not support, up to, and including, his own execution for being a “sexual deviant”.
posted by ColoradoPatriot on
You got to hand it to ND30 for his consistency though…oh wait, he’s as wishy-washy and feeble as Sam Brownback. Nevermind.
posted by Randi Schimnosky on
That’s why its not conceivable that Northdallass is actually gay. If he was he’d be deeply involved in one of those conversion programs trying to pray away the gay. He claims to be gay because he wrongly thinks it gives his baseless attacks on LGBTs more credibility.
posted by Craig2 on
Or New Zealand for that matter. Unlike Australia and the United States, we don’t discriminate on the basis of family structure in refugee and asylum policy matters either…
Craig2
Wellington, NZ
posted by Rhywun on
Craig2,
My ex is in Malaysia. I’m sure he’s tried Australia but I don’t know about New Zealand. I’ll have to ask him.
posted by Brian Miller on
Outright Libertarians has been the only multi-issue gay group, to my knowledge, who has been ranking presidential candidates on gay immigration issues — both partner immigration and asylum issues.
We’ve found that most of the old-party candidates aren’t very supportive or definitive on either category of immigration.
You can find more at the Outright web site.
Gay people should hold candidates’ feet to the fire on this issue, especially given the *massive* increase on challenges and appeals by the Bush administration against successful asylum applications by gay people from abroad.
posted by Bobby on
Hold on, just because you live in a homophobic country doesn’t mean you have the right to seek assylum in the USA. And seeking assylum often involves proving persecution, which a lot of people can’t do.
posted by Audrey B on
Bobby is right, gay people should just stay in their country of origin and continue to get persecuted, and possibly killed, because DAMN IT they have no right to come here. Those tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free should go %&@# them selves.
posted by Bobby on
Audrey, the statue of liberty is not the freaking constitution. This is not europe, we don’t have open borders legally speaking, we can’t just take everyone who comes here. Do you want us to become China with a population of a billion people, maybe more? Do you drive a car? Have you noticed the traffic? I support legal immigration. Why should someone claiming assylum get in so easily while someone applying for a greencard has to go through hell to get it? Leftwingers are never happy, if we take 20,000 people claiming assylum, they’ll bitch because the europeans are taking 100,000. Well, let them go to Europe, America is full.
posted by Randi Schimnosky on
Don’t be absurd Bobby, the population density in Britain is much higher than in the U.S. There’s lots of room there yet, ever been to North Dakota? The U.S. is supposed to be a land of justice, you can damn well take persecuted gays (and let them marry).
posted by Bobby on
Hey Randi, my best friend in the world lives in England, he shares an 2/1 apartment with his girlfriend and two other people, he pays a 300 pound rent. He coudln’t afford to live alone in London if he wanted. He says it’s like New York.
You’re right about room in North Dakota, Alaska, Montana, and many places, but here’s the catch. Our immigration policies don’t encourage people to go to those places, so most immigrants end up in Miami, LA, Chicago, New York and other overcrowded cities. Besides, how many people do you know that want to work in North Dakota? I do! But that’s because I’m a freak. Most people want to be in the cool places, or at least places where they can find their own kind.
The U.S. is not a land of justice, it’s a land of freedom and INDIVIDUALISM. And as you know, freedom is not free, there is a price to pay if you come here. In fact, judges rutinely rule against assylum cases. Here in Florida we have one that has denied 97% of the assylum petitions.
posted by Audrey B on
If your ancestors had not been allowed in this country when they were, you would not be alive to give me lame excuses why others can’t be allowed in this country, or why it’s okay for ‘faggots’ to be executed if the majority vote for such a policy.
posted by Audrey B on
The previous comment was for Bobby.
posted by Craig2 on
Rhywun:
If your partner has business, medical or other professional skills, then he’s free to apply, and would probably succeed in his application. Under the current federal Howard conservative administration in Australia, they’re a little backward (sic) on LGBT rights compared to us…
Craig2
Wellington, NZ
posted by Bobby on
“you would not be alive to give me lame excuses why others can’t be allowed in this country.”
—Explain to me why should America do what most of the world doesn’t?
posted by Audrey B on
Because, Bobby, we are better then most of the world, and everybody knows this. Whether the left admits it or not.
posted by Bobby on
Sure Audrey, I believe America is #1. But that doesn’t mean we should open the floodgates to everyone who is persecuted. Are you aware of the current backlog the INS has when it comes to processing greencards? What about all the people spending up to $10,000 to get a greencard? What about their rights?
If America can’t get it’s shit together, if they can’t protect the borders, if they can’t hire more immigration officials, if they can’t deport the small number of illegal immigrants who commit serious crimes after they’ve completed their sentences, what makes you think we can open the borders to every assylum seeker that wants to come here?
People, we have to be more realistic. If you want a liberal argument about immigration, just read what the Sierra Club has to say about overdevelopment because of immigration. Roads aren’t growing, public transportation sucks, outsourcing is shipping American jobs overseas, illegals are willing to work for next to nothing forcing everyone without a college education to make less money while illegals don’t even pay taxes!
Do you rent/own your apartment? What happens when the cost of that keeps going up and suddenly you have to take a roommate? What happens when one roommate is not enough and you have to live with 10 or 20 to afford the rent? Controled immigration is wonderful, but God forbid we end up like Bombay or New Dehli where people die in the streets and nobody notices.
posted by ETJB on
“Bobby is right, gay people should just stay in their country of origin and continue to get persecuted, and possibly killed, because DAMN IT they have no right to come here. Those tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to breathe free should go %&@# them selves.”
But, but Audry, dont you know that an regulated free market will magically solve everything? That must gay people are really right-wing Republicans? That President Regan and Bush are gay-friendly? 🙂
posted by Brian Miller on
But, but Audry, dont you know that an regulated free market will magically solve everything?
It’s funny you should mention this. If the federal government took a Libertarian small-government unregulated market position, all those gay people being oppressed in Iran and Zimbabwe would be able to find safety, shelter, work and prosperity in America.
It’s a shame that Democrats and Republicans, in their zeal for regulation, would consider the deaths of our gay brothers and sisters overseas just “another price we have to pay” for regulations and red tape to help their political buddies out.