Asylum Seekers’ Credibility Burden: Managing Trauma in the Asylum Process without Collective Support

Abstract

In cases of asylum, individual asylum seekers experience victimization and discrimination on the basis of a social identity, however, the process of seeking government protection from a host society is an individualized course of action. The U.S. asylum system provides the legal means for asylum seekers to apply for permanent residency status based on their ability to document valid claims of persecution. Qualitative interviews with individuals applying for asylum (n=14) reveal an underlying uncertainty based on themes of fear in sharing their story, fear of denial, and consideration of alternative plans while awaiting the asylum decision. This paper focuses on referencing the first hand accounts of asylum seekers in order to critically examine the trauma associated with the U.S. asylum system. The research asserts that the individualized process of asylum and the public perception that valid claims would be endorsed fails to acknowledge the asylum system as a source of detrimental barriers and trauma itself. And since asylum seekers participate in this process individually, the inability of adopting a cultural trauma frame serves to maintain the asylum system’s status quo and direct burden on the asylum seeker for the outcome of his or her case.