Immigration Basics: Refugees
January 2016 | View the Full Report (PDF)
Who are refugees?
Refugees are people who are authorized to come to the United States because they are determined to be fleeing individual persecution by their home government. To qualify as a refugee, a person must meet the following definition from Section 101(a)(42) of the Immigration and Nationality Act: “any person who... is unable or unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of that country [their home country] because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion....â€
Although the United Nations has identified nearly 12 million individuals as current refugees, that number can grow exponentially overnight. That’s why it’s widely accepted that only a fraction of those who qualify as refugees will be resettled in the West.
https://fairus.org/issue/legal-immigration/immigration-basics-refugees
