Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
ISSN
0883-9409
Publisher
University of Denver College of Law
Language
en-US
Abstract
In the midst of vicious and unrelenting attacks on Central American asylum seekers in the United States, this Article seeks to understand historic and present-day patterns of animus and discrimination facing this group of refugees, and to propose solutions. This Article begins by examining decades of prejudice faced by Central American asylum seekers, as well as attempts to right those wrongs through litigation, legislation, and the creation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Next, this Article identifies the predominant push and pull factors driving Central American refugees north—and the U.S. role in creating them. The Article then lays out the impact of this Administration’s systemic attacks on Central American asylum seekers, in particular, through family separation and zero-tolerance, the asylum ban and Matter of A-B-, and the framework in which refugees should be permitted to seek protection under current U.S. law. Finally, this Article evaluates several potential solutions including humanitarian asylum, an expansion of TPS, and litigation. Ultimately, this Article concludes that, in light of decades of abuse and prejudice directed at this class of refugees, the only adequate means of reparation is congressional legislation that would carve out special, tailored protections for this vulnerable group.
Recommended Citation
Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes,
Reparations for Central American Refugees
,
in
96
Denver Law Review
585
(2019).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/599
