TAMPA, Fla. — For undocumented immigrants, getting a social security number, driver's license, and work visa is as simple as crossing the border illegally into the United States.
We sat down with an immigration attorney and undocumented immigrant from Mauritania to see how the asylum process works to help people fleeing persecution gain citizenship while also inspiring bad actors to take advantage of the system.
"Really, there is no policy. If you come to the border, whether you encounter an ICE agent or not, you're eligible to come in and apply for asylum," Emel Ersan, an immigration attorney, told ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska. "There's really no limit, and it's almost like, why wouldn't people come?"
Ersan is representing a man from the West Coast of Africa, who we will identify as "Nour," who entered the United States illegally from the Southern Border.
"He was actually a slave. I mean, he was enslaved by some tribe in Mauritania. They have these tribal rules, and so he ran away all the way to the Mexican border and entered. He has a strong asylum case, but not every case is like that."
Nour told Paluska that the U.S. offered him an escape.
Through an Arabic-to-English translator, Nour said he learned that the United States borders were very easy to enter and to get to the country. "So for Nour, it was a decision he made for his future."
"Can you ask him if the risk to come here was worth it?" Paluska asked the translator over the phone.
Nour responded, "Thank God. I'm very happy that I'm here. I don't have any worries about somebody's going to take me or arrest me or beat me or do anything to me. I'm very happy to be here. I go to work, I work, and I come back home, and I'm extremely happy and satisfied. It's worth everything to me. I have a driver's license, I'm functioning well, I'm going back and forth to my work."
Nour is still scared of getting deported. But Ersan tells Paluska that President Elect Donald Trump's promises will be challenging to enforce.
"It's a total falsehood. Millions of people, for them to be deported, they have to go through the asylum process. When you apply for asylum, you're protected," Ersan said. "The priority is going to be the people that have criminal records, criminal convictions, and then the third priority will be people that already have deportation orders."
Another problem is the asylum backlog. Ersan said it can take a decade or more for an asylum case to be adjudicated from start to finish.
"I think the asylum laws do have to change because if you allow millions and millions of people such that your backlog is 10 years, that's not a working asylum system, and it's totally open for abuse," Ersan said. "If somebody calls me and says, 'Hey, I want to come through the border, what will happen to me?' I have to tell them the truth that, you know, nothing. You'll be able to come through the border, and you'll apply for asylum. Within a year, you'll get a work visa, and you'll be fine for 10 years. I mean, I'm not happy with that, but you know, that is the law, so we have to do what, you know, whatever the law is prescribing us. We have to tell them what that is. So, the concept of entering illegally is kind of lost on a lot of people, because the system kind of allows it so they don't feel like they entered illegally. A lot of people will tell me, 'Oh, I didn't enter illegally. I went through the border,' because the process makes it so that it doesn't seem like they're entering illegally."
Winning asylum can be challenging. Depending on who is president at the time, it could determine whether asylum is granted or denied.
For example, according to TRAC Immigration, operated by Syracuse University, during President-Elect Donald Trump's first presidency (2016-2020), 56,380 immigrants were granted asylum. For President Joe Biden (2020-2024), the current total is 122,631.
"What's causing the confusion and also the disparity in treatments of migrants with each presidency is it's all a matter of discretion, humanitarian parole— matter of discretion, asylum— matter of discretion," Ersan said. "How we use that discretion is absolutely political, and if you look at the chart, you know Trump years had, for example, here in Florida, asylum win rate was as low as 8%, and then we got to Biden, asylum win rates were more like 50 to 60% so. There's some kind of policy, some memo circulating saying, go easy on them, go hard on them. But what has to happen, if anybody were to ask me, is that millions of immigrants like myself have entered this country (legally) and have provided so much value to this country. Their avenues being closed off is the problem because we're not getting the strongest immigrants that bring so much to this country. There are millions of immigrants like myself who have entered this country and have provided so much value to this country. Their avenues being closed off is the problem because we need to get the strongest immigrants that bring so much to this country. It's not merit-based. It's based on who's willing to walk the border and do illegal things, as opposed to millions of people that are at the door of the consulate saying, 'Hey, I'm a doctor, I'm a lawyer, I'm or I'm a skilled worker that America needs let me in.' I think that once immigration becomes more merit-based and less on, you know, sympathies and false applications, we're rewarding a lot of people for just gaming the system, as opposed to people that want to do things legally at the consulate."
The United States established asylum laws in the years following WWII. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, "The Displaced Persons Act of 1948, the first specific "refugee" act passed by Congress, aimed to address the nearly 7 million displaced persons in Europe due to World War II. The act allowed refugees to enter the U.S. within the constraints of the existing quota system."
