中国人在美寻庇护，年年人数最多, 2017会计年度42%获准

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王山, 中国人来美申请政治庇护，超过四成获得批准. 法广, July 3, 2018
cn.rfi.fr/中国/20180703-中国人来美申请政治庇护，超过四成获得批准
("美国联邦政府国土安全部在一份给国会的报告中，指中国是政治庇护申请者最多的来源国之一。2018财政年度整体政治庇护案件批准率为26%，但中国人的政庇案批准率达42%。最常见为因宗教原因获得批准政治庇护，其次为一胎化，第三为政治因素。 国土安全部在报告中指出，美国公民及移民服务局(USCIS)的移民申请案积压严重，截至今年3月31日，等候最终决定的政治庇护案件，已有31万8624件")

Julie Kirchner (CIS Ombudsman), which is based on Annual Report to Congress. Department of Homeland Security, June 28, 2018
https://www.dhs.gov/annual-report-congress

Quote:

"The Ombudsman works to resolve case issues directly with USCIS field offices, service centers, and other offices as a part of its mission. The Ombudsman identifies trends that are significant or problematic and addresses them with USCIS at the appropriate level. While not every Ombudsman inquiry results in a case approval, we make every effort to ensure USCIS treats each case in a fair and consistent manner and in line with applicable policy and procedure.

"As of March 31, 2018, USCIS had 318,624 affirmative asylum applications pending final decision from the Asylum Office." page 36 (footnote omitted).

"In January 2018, the Asylum Division changed its interview scheduling protocol to 'last-in, first-out' (LIFO), to prioritize affirmative applications received by the agency within 21 or fewer days before scheduling its longer-pending applications. Prior to this change, the Asylum Division had prioritized the scheduling of its oldest pending cases for interviews on a FIFO [first-in, first-out]basis since 2015."  pages 36-37 (footnotes omitted).

"The law of asylum, particularly as interpreted in the United States, traces a direct route from the refugee crises of the twentieth century.Through most of World War II, US immigration did not include a formal refugee process. Eventually, President Roosevelt created a War Refugee Board in 1944 to implement a new policy of relief for victims of the Nazis. * * * In 1951, the UN adopted the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees * * * In 1968, the United States signed on to the international treaties, affirming this obligation to the refugee population.  Subsequently, Congress passed the Refugee Act of 1980, which codified the provisions of the [UN] 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol." page 37 (footnotes omitted).

"While closely related, the law and processes for refugee and asylum applicants differ. Refugees are defined in 8 USC § 1101(a)(42) and refer to persons who are outside of the United States and are applying for protection in the United States based on persecution. Asylum applicants are in the United States already and are applying for protection based on persecution. See INA § 208; 8 USC § 1158. In both cases, the required persecution is taken from a definition in international treaties adopted by the United States, the Refugee Convention, and the amendments of the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. The qualifying applicant in both cases must have a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion." pages 37-38.

"Individuals who seek admission to the United States without proper entry documents or who have otherwise not been admitted are subject to immediate return, called expedited removal. However, if they claim a fear of persecution and a desire to apply for asylum, they are detained and receive a credible fear screening from an asylum officer. If the applicant establishes a 'significant possibility' that he or she can prove the elements of a full asylum claim in a hearing before an immigration judge, the applicant is referred to proceedings and can apply for asylum in a removal hearing." page 40 (footnotes omitted).

"Asylum Grants. Though USCIS' Asylum Division does not track the basis of the persecution grounds upon which an applicant filed the asylum applications, it does track the basis of the claim upon which the final decision was made.  In 2017, the overall approval rate for affirmative asylum applications was 34 percent. For FY 2018, the overall approval rate was 26 percent as of February, 2018. See Figure 4.2.

Fig 4.2: Grounds for Granting Affirmative Asylum in FY 2017
Nationality* …...Referral/Denial rate ……...Grant rate ……….Top ground ………...#2 ground ………….#3 ground
China …………..58% ……………………...42% ……………..Religion ……………CFP ………………..Political
El Salvador…….65% ……………………....35% ……………..PSG ………………..none ……………….Political
Guatemala …….67% ……………………….33% …………….PSG ………………...none ……………….Race
Mexico ………..91% ……………………...9% ……………..none ………………...PSG ……………….Political
Venezuela …….28% ………………………..72% …………….Political …………...PSG ………………..Multiple

Notes:
* With the exception of Venezuela, all listed nationalities are both most numerous new applications and most numerous applications completed by the Asylum Division during the fiscal year. Venezuela is not one of the nationalities with the most numerous applications completed by the Asylum Division.
. . .
Cases may include more than one individual, ie an applicant and a spouse and/or children.

Source: Information provided by USCIS (Mar. 29, 2018). PSG denotes particular social group, while CFP means coercive family planning."
page 41 (footnotes omitted; emphasis original).


Note:
(a)
(i)  Ombudsmen in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ombudsmen_in_the_United_States
(section 1 Federal Departments and agencies, section 1.2 Department of Homeland Security Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman)
(ii) ombudsman (n; Did You Know?; etymology)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ombudsman

(b) Quotation 4 tells an asylum seeker from refugee apart. The former applies abroad, whereas the latter from within the US (at least in its border).

(c)
(i) The first sentence of the last quotation states, "Though USCIS' Asylum Division does not track the basis of the persecution grounds upon which an applicant filed the asylum applications, it does track the basis of the claim upon which the final decision was made."

It is straightforward: Some applications may drop out before and without a final decision.
(ii) Neither Fig 4.2 nor the text of the 2018 annual report provides the number of, say, Chinese applications or denials.
(iii) Refugee, Asylum and International Operations Directorate RAIO; based in Washington DC; head is director), USCIS is made up of three divisions: Refugee Affairs Division (RAF), Asylum Division and International Operations Division.
https://www.uscis.gov/about-us/d ... rations-directorate
(iv) My reading of this annual report (text and Figure 4.2) is this report mainly (perhaps exclusively) talks about asylum seekers, not refugees (who are outside the US and do not know they can complain to the ombudsman).
(v) China indeed the nation with the highest number of its citizens seeking asylum in US. See
Stef W Kight and Erica Pandey, Why So many Chinese Asylum Seekers Are Stuck in the US. Axios, Apr 20, 2018
https://www.axios.com/china-poli ... 5-b69d82842ef0.html
("Oppressive measures such as the 'one-child' policy — and Beijing's refusal to take back most people who are deported from the US — have left the US with more asylum seekers from China than any other nation")

(d) Membership in a Particular Social Group. In Asylum and Withholding Definitions. Federal Register ("65 FR 76588" and "FR 67-00")
https://www.uscis.gov/ilink/docV ... 42/0-0-0-64298.html
("Once an applicant has established that the harm he or she has suffered or fears is 'on account of' the characteristic asserted, the applicant must establish that the characteristic qualifies as race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion [so this is what 'political' means in Table 4.2 above]. Membership in a particular social group is perhaps the most complex and difficult to understand of these five grounds. * * * This would be the case, for example, if a woman could not reasonably be expected to divorce because of religious, cultural, or legal constraints. Any intimate relationship, including marriage, could also be immutable if the evidence indicates that the relationship is one that the victim could not reasonably be expected to leave")

* Federal Register
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Register