Synopses & Reviews
Through the Refugee Act of 1980, the United States offers the prospect of safety to people who flee to America to escape rape, torture, and even death in their native countries. In order to be granted asylum, however, an applicant must prove to an asylum officer or immigration judge that she has a well-founded fear of persecution in her homeland. The chance of winning asylum should have little if anything to do with the personality of the official to whom a case is randomly assigned, but in a ground-breaking and shocking study, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, Andrew I. Schoenholtz, and Philip G. Schrag learned that life-or-death asylum decisions are too frequently influenced by random factors relating to the decision makers. In many cases, the most important moment in an asylum case is the instant in which a clerk randomly assigns the application to an adjudicator. The system, in its current state, is like a game of chance.
Refugee Roulette is the first analysis of decisions at all four levels of the asylum adjudication process: the Department of Homeland Security, the immigration courts, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and the United States Courts of Appeals. The data reveal tremendous disparities in asylum approval rates, even when different adjudicators in the same office each considered large numbers of applications from nationals of the same country. After providing a thorough empirical analysis, the authors make recommendations for future reform. Original essays by eight scholars and policy makers then discuss the authors research and recommendations
Contributors: Bruce Einhorn, Steven Legomsky, Audrey Macklin, M. Margaret McKeown, Allegra McLeod, Carrie Menkel-Meadow, Margaret Taylor, and Robert Thomas.
Review
“Refugee Roulette reveals how far the nations asylum adjudication system has veered from its traditional moorings of equal justice under law and protection for those in danger of political persecution. The authors bring impressive experience, care, and seasoned judgment to the table. Refugee Roulette should serve as a blueprint for action by policymakers and a new administration.”
- Doris Meissner, Former Commissioner, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization, Service and Senior Fellow, Migration Policy Institute (MPI)
“This pathbreaking study of the asylum system in the United States, coupled with the comparative commentary, reveals the enormous challenges of making fair decisions about asylum claims when the underlying facts are far away and decisions rest on assessments of credibilityof people who often do not speak the language of the judge. At its core, this work raises the profound question of when a system of decision making qualifies to be called a ‘court. ”
- Judith Resnik, Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale Law School
“Insiders have long bemoaned the arbitrary and unfair outcomes of the U.S. asylum system. Finally we have a meticulous and compelling study that lays bare the indisputable problems and essential remedies for all to see.”
- Jacqueline Bhabha, Jeremiah Smith Jnr Lecturer, Harvard Law School, Director, University Committee on Human Rights Studies
“A clarion call for a new humanitarian and transparent system that must be brought into line with our supposed democratic principles, particularly in this era of Obama reform. A must-read for students of immigration law and international human rights.”
- David Brotherton, Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York
Review
"[T]his is research in the best tradition: it confirms what you largely know already but gives you the ammunition to prove it."
“The study concerns one 'big idea' which, importantly, is accessible to both lawyers and laymen without any special jurisprudential or philosophical introduction: the right to have like cases treated alike… [The authors] seem to be stones that have rubbed each other smooth. Their prose is beautifully clear throughout.”
“Refugee Roulette reveals how far the nation’s asylum adjudication system has veered from its traditional moorings of equal justice under law and protection for those in danger of political persecution. The authors bring impressive experience, care, and seasoned judgment to the table. Refugee Roulette should serve as a blueprint for action by policymakers and a new administration.”
“This pathbreaking study of the asylum system in the United States, coupled with the comparative commentary, reveals the enormous challenges of making fair decisions about asylum claims when the underlying facts are far away and decisions rest on assessments of credibility—of people who often do not speak the language of the judge. At its core, this work raises the profound question of when a system of decision making qualifies to be called a ‘court.’ ”
“Insiders have long bemoaned the arbitrary and unfair outcomes of the U.S. asylum system. Finally we have a meticulous and compelling study that lays bare the indisputable problems and essential remedies for all to see.”
Review
“Anthony's fascinating biography of this 'world citizen in the Black Atlantic' sheds a good deal of light on the origins of Yergans radical engagement in the 1930s and 1940s.”
-Radical History Review,
Review
“As the title of this provocative work suggests, Max Yergan certainly is one of the more intriguing figures of the previous century. . . . This biography includes a particularly strong bibliography and a detailed index.”
-Gerald Horne,Journal of American History
Review
“Beautifully written and accessible . . . Max Yergan is a remarkable book which reflects prodigious and imaginative research. It is more than a biography; it is a walk through a variety of political and institutional movements that have substantially shaped the history of the black world, from the United States to South Africa.”
-Robin D.G. Kelley,author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination
Review
“Anthony has done an admirable job making sense of the sometimes contradictory sources related to Yergan's life, and the scope of his research is truly remarkable.”
-Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies ,
Review
“The multiple lives of the man David Anthony explores in these pages are fascinating, tragic, and remarkably little-known. The left-to-right journeys of many white American intellectuals are familiar, but the trajectory of this talented black man seems more dramatic than any of them: from mentor of a key African National Congress leader to enthusiastic backer of apartheid, from friend of Paul Robeson and target of FBI surveillance to someone eulogized in the National Review. Max Yergans odyssey through the twentieth century is a prism through which to view an era's dreams and conflicts on four continents.”
-Adam Hochschild,author of King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa
Review
“[T]his is research in the best tradition: it confirms what you largely know already but gives you the ammunition to prove it.”-Justice Journal ,
Review
“The study concerns one ‘big idea which, importantly, is accessible to both lawyers and laymen without any special jurisprudential or philosophical introduction: the right to have like cases treated alike… [The authors] seem to be stones that have rubbed each other smooth. Their prose is beautifully clear throughout.”-Modern Law Review,
Review
“Refugee Roulette reveals how far the nations asylum adjudication system has veered from its traditional moorings of equal justice under law and protection for those in danger of political persecution. The authors bring impressive experience, care, and seasoned judgment to the table. Refugee Roulette should serve as a blueprint for action by policymakers and a new administration.”
-Doris Meissner,Former Commissioner, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization, Service and Senior Fellow, Migration Polic
Review
“This pathbreaking study of the asylum system in the United States, coupled with the comparative commentary, reveals the enormous challenges of making fair decisions about asylum claims when the underlying facts are far away and decisions rest on assessments of credibility—of people who often do not speak the language of the judge. At its core, this work raises the profound question of when a system of decision making qualifies to be called a ‘court. ”
-Judith Resnik,Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale Law School
Review
“Insiders have long bemoaned the arbitrary and unfair outcomes of the U.S. asylum system. Finally we have a meticulous and compelling study that lays bare the indisputable problems and essential remedies for all to see.”
-Jacqueline Bhabha,Jeremiah Smith Jnr Lecturer, Harvard Law School, Director, University Committee on Human Rights Studies
Review
“A clarion call for a new humanitarian and transparent system that must be brought into line with our supposed democratic principles, particularly in this era of Obama reform. A must-read for students of immigration law and international human rights.”
-David Brotherton,Professor and Chair, Department of Sociology, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York
Synopsis
In his long and fascinating life, black activist and intellectual Max Yergan (1892-1975) traveled on more ground—both literally and figuratively—than any of his impressive contemporaries, which included Adam Clayton Powell, Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and A. Phillip Randolph. Yergan rose through the ranks of the "colored" work department of the YMCA, and was among the first black YMCA missionaries in South Africa. His exposure to the brutality of colonial white rule in South Africa caused him to veer away from mainstream, liberal civil rights organizations, and, by the mid-1930s, into the orbit of the Communist Party. A mere decade later, Cold War hysteria and intimidation pushed Yergan away from progressive politics and increasingly toward conservatism. In his later years he even became an apologist for apartheid.
Drawing on personal interviews and extensive archival research, David H. Anthony has written much more than a biography of this enigmatic leader. In following the winding road of Yergans life, Anthony offers a tour through the complex and interrelated political and institutional movements that have shaped the history of the black world from the United States to South Africa.
About the Author
Jaya Ramji-Nogales is Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Institute for International Law and Public Policy at Temple Universitys Beasley School of Law.
Andrew I. Schoenholtz is Visiting Professor, Director of the Human Rights Institute, and Director of the Center for Applied Legal Studies at Georgetown University Law Center. He is Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Philip G. Schrag is the Delaney Family Professor of Public Interest Law and Director of the Center for Applied Legal Studies at Georgetown University Law Center.