UofL Libraries: Current Issues: Asylum

Immigration Legal Resources

Resources for Immigration Lawyers
Links to research, instruction, case management, lawyer referral, and other legal resources related to immigration. Assembled by the American Association of Law Libraries.
American Immigration Council: Asylum
Fact sheets, practice advisories, and other documents on asylum from the non-profit American Immigration Council.

Asylum Seekers in the US

The issue of asylum policies and practices continues to be a topic of legal debate in the U.S. as new policies are discussed and enacted to respond to the backlog of asylum cases.

8 U.S. Code § 1158. Asylum
The US Code includes laws related to asylum. This law might offer the most potent means of stopping and punishing violations of norms of treatment. Congress has attempted to codify all the U.S.’s obligations under international law into its statutes.
First 100 Days of the Biden Administration
Summary of recent changes to U.S. immigration law & policy from the American Immigration Lawyers Association, with a searchable table of government documents.
What Laws Protect Detained Children From Mistreatment on the Border?
A news article published by Pacific Standard outlines some of the US federal laws that regulate the treatment of detained minors.
The Flores Settlement: A Brief History
The Flores settlement, which "set limits on the length of time and conditions under which children can be incarcerated in immigration detention" has been frequently referred to in examining current policies and practices.
Lexis Advance
Law students & faculty only.
Select Immigration Law under the "Practice Area or Industry" tab.
Westlaw Edge
Law students & faculty only.
Select Immigration under the "Practice areas" tab.

International Law

International law is established by treaties and the bodies that enforce them. However, these remedies are subject to the sovereign rights of states and ultimately to the choice of powerful states like the US to accept jurisdiction.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN OHCHR)
Article 14(1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted in 1948, guarantees the right to seek and enjoy asylum in other countries. It proscribes how host nations must treat those seeking political asylum. The US is a signatory.
European Convention on Human Rights
Many European countries, including all European Union members such as Hungary and Italy, have agreed to asylum norms established in the European Convention on Human Rights. For more about this Convention, see the International Law: Human Rights Research Guide below.
International Law: Human Rights Research Guide
Our research guide to human rights includes more information about many of the organizations that oversee international human rights agreements, including the UN, Council of Europe, and Organizations of American States.
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
The term “crimes against humanity” is occasionally raised in these debates. The Rome Statute lays out the elements of such crimes, which are adjudicated by the International Criminal Court.
The US is NOT a signatory to the Rome treaty, however, and the crimes the ICC tries involve horrific crimes of genocide.