Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Membership In A Particular Social Group: International Journalists And U.S. Asylum Law, Edward L. Carter, Brad Clark

Faculty Publications

At least thirty non-U.S. journalists in the last decade have argued in U.S. Courts of Appeal that U.S. immigration authorities erroneously denied their asylum applications based on persecution in their native countries. ... Still, journalists persecuted in their home countries for their journalism work might better fit the statutory qualifications for asylum --primarily persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a "particular social group"--than the U.S. immigration system sometimes acknowledges. ... Finally, and most importantly, the asylum seeker bears the burden to establish that he or she is unable or unwilling to return to his …