Outmatched: The U.S. Asylum System Faces Record Demands

Known for its long tradition of providing refuge, the U.S. humanitarian protection system is under significant strain at a time of mass displacements globally, a backlog of 2 million asylum applications, and record arrivals of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. The Biden administration has turned to alternate pathways to provide temporary protection to some, while imposing restrictions to asylum.

Without a more efficient system and resources for adjudicating asylum cases and expanded lawful pathways to meet growing protection needs, the nation’s immigration courts and asylum offices will become increasingly overwhelmed and individuals in need of protection will not receive it in a timely manner. Yet U.S. immigration laws, written decades ago, remain stuck in the past and are no longer fit for purpose. With asylum a fraught political issue in the United States, as in other key destination countries, the U.S. Congress has been unable to set aside partisan and ideological differences to act.

This report examines the current state of the U.S. protection system, with a particular focus on recent changes the Biden administration has been making in asylum processes and temporary protections, as well as the challenges and lessons the U.S. experience may offer for other asylum systems and countries.

The report is one of five country case studies and a synthesis report in a comparative asylum project developed by the Clingendael Institute.