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Who Killed Asylum?

By
Levi Vonk
Billy Pavord

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the US government, across Republican and Democratic administrations alike, has been slowly dismantling what was once the most generous asylum system in the world.

Asylum seekers gather at El Chaparral port of entry in Tijuana, Mexico, on August 10, 2018.

The US asylum system has heavily favored applicants from communist countries while systematically rejecting those fleeing US-backed violence. With the demise of the communist threat, the government has all but completely dismantled it. (Guillermo Arias / AFP via Getty Images)

Asylum as we know it is basically dead. The immigration system has been so systematically hollowed out that, for the vast majority of the world’s poor and displaced, it might as well not exist anymore.

A brief list of what’s gone wrong:

First, asylum approval rates have plummeted to historic lows, falling below 20 percent in 2025, compared to 55.5 percent in 2012.

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