ASYLUM

A claim for asylum is made at of within the borders of the United States. If s/he presents a credible fear of harm, s/he will receive a temporary immigration status and work authorization while her application is pending. In order to assert a proper claim, the applicant must show that s/he is victim to persecution by her government as a consequence of her race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group, or political opinion in being a central reason for the persecution. The law requires the applicant to file within one year of arrival to the U.S.

CAT

The Convention Against Torture was passed by Congress in1994 to ensure that the immigration courts did not remove an immigrant to a country whose government or other actor would torture or otherwise harm the person. Torture, U.S. and international law, is defined as:

An act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or her or a third person information or a confession, punishing him or her for an act he or she or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or her or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.

In order to be eligible for CAT before the immigration court, the applicant for this relief need show that it is more likely than not that he or she will be tortured upon return home.

WITHHOLDING OF REMOVAL

Seen as the legal cousin of asylum, withholding of removal (WOR) requires a showing of the same elements as does asylum, without the one year filing requirement, but with a higher “standard of proof”. Whereas asylum only requires that the applicant show a “credible fear” or significant likelihood of harm, WOR requires a showing of “clear probability” of a “threat to life or freedom” meaning that it must be shown to be more likely than not that harm would occur to the applicant upon return home.