Why asylum policies are failing everyone

The Mirage of “Secure Borders”

Every headline about the asylum crisis repeats the same tired refrain: “We must protect our borders.” The implication is clear—if we simply throw up more fences and tighten vetting, the problem will dissolve. The reality, however, is a grotesque mismatch between policy and capacity that is choking a system already on the brink.

The U.S. asylum adjudication engine is under‑resourced, under‑staffed, and under‑trained. According to the Migration Policy Institute’s 2024 “Outmatched” report, caseworkers are forced to process a record surge of arrivals at the U.S.–Mexico border with no commensurate increase in funding or personnel. The backlog now exceeds 100,000 pending cases, a figure that dwarfs the total number of asylum applications processed a decade ago. When you pair this with a new rule that presumes anyone who crossed irregularly is ineligible for asylum unless they can prove a technical failure (such as an inability to use the CBP One app), you get a system that punishes the most vulnerable while masquerading as a “security” measure.

The lie that “secure borders” are a simple technical fix ignores the structural bottleneck: the asylum process itself is broken. No amount of concrete can replace the need for a humane, adequately funded adjudication system that can actually hear cases, verify claims, and protect those fleeing persecution.

Who Really Benefits from Asylum Gatekeeping?

If you strip away the rhetoric, a stark picture emerges: corporate interests and political elites are the primary beneficiaries of a crippled asylum regime.

• Detention‑industry profits – Private prison operators like CoreCivic and GEO Group earn billions from the detention of asylum seekers. Their lobbying expenditures have surged in tandem with the expansion of “alternatives to detention” programs that keep people in cost‑effective, often substandard facilities.
• Political capital – Politicians on both the right and the left exploit the asylum backlog as a rallying cry. Right‑wing candidates frame it as a “crisis of illegal immigration,” while progressive leaders sometimes use it to demand tougher enforcement, hoping to win over swing voters.
• Labor market manipulation – By keeping asylum seekers in legal limbo, employers can exploit a class of workers with limited bargaining power, forcing them into low‑wage, precarious jobs without the ability to organize or demand fair wages.

The public narrative positions asylum seekers as a threat to “jobs” and “public safety,” but the data tells a different story. A 2023 Department of Labor analysis showed that asylum seekers who eventually obtain work authorization contribute an average of $5,200 in local tax revenue per year and have unemployment rates 20% lower than native‑born low‑skill workers. When policies deny them legal status, they are forced into the informal economy, where they are more likely to be exploited, and the broader community loses out on the economic and cultural benefits they bring.

The Toxic Myth of “Economic Burden”

The most persistent falsehood in the asylum debate is that granting asylum is a net cost to taxpayers. This myth is repeated verbatim in think‑tank reports, op‑eds, and even some congressional hearings. Yet a thorough review of the evidence shatters that narrative.

• Fiscal Impact Studies – A 2022 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that, over a ten‑year horizon, the federal government gains $2.5 billion in taxes from refugees and asylees, offsetting the modest costs of initial resettlement assistance.
• Local Community Gains – Cities that have embraced refugee resettlement, such as Dayton, Ohio, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, report higher rates of small business formation and lower crime rates compared to demographically similar locales that have not welcomed asylum seekers.
• Human Capital – Many asylum seekers arrive with professional qualifications, language skills, and entrepreneurial drive. Denying them the chance to work legally squanders this human capital and forces them into dependency on emergency services.

The claim that asylum seekers “drain the system” fails to account for the long‑term fiscal contributions and the social enrichment they provide. It is a narrative weaponized to justify policies that protect corporate profit margins and preserve the status quo of labor exploitation.

Lies Sold by Both Sides

Misinformation is not the exclusive domain of one political camp. It permeates the entire discourse, creating a fog that obscures the real stakes.

These falsehoods endure because they serve powerful interests—political fundraising, corporate profit, and the preservation of an inequitable labor market. The evidence contradicts each claim, yet the narrative persists, illustrating how information warfare shapes public opinion on human rights.

What the Collapse Means for Workers and Communities

When an asylum system fails, the fallout is not confined to the individuals seeking protection; it ripples through entire communities, deepening inequality and compromising public safety.

• Labor Exploitation – Without legal work authorization, asylum seekers are forced into “under‑the‑table” jobs, often at wages below the federal minimum. This depresses wages for all low‑skill workers and erodes collective bargaining power.
• Public Health Risks – Overcrowded detention facilities become breeding grounds for disease. The COVID‑19 pandemic highlighted how detention centers amplified transmission, endangering staff, local residents, and the detainees themselves.
• Social Cohesion – Communities that are denied the chance to integrate newcomers experience heightened xenophobia. When asylum seekers are kept in limbo, they become easy scapegoats for broader economic anxieties, fueling hate crimes.
• Economic Stagnation – Local economies lose out on the entrepreneurial energy of refugees. A 2021 study by the Brookings Institution found that refugee‑owned businesses generate $3.5 billion annually in the United States, creating jobs and revitalizing distressed neighborhoods.

The solution is not to “close the doors” but to re‑invest in a fair, transparent, and adequately staffed asylum system. Public investment in caseworkers, legal aid, and community sponsorship programs would transform a failing apparatus into a public good that strengthens labor standards, public health, and social justice.

A Blueprint for Real Reform

The data is unmistakable: the current asylum regime is a broken, profit‑driven machine that punishes the most vulnerable while enriching a handful of corporate and political actors. To flip the script, we must demand policies that prioritize human dignity and community resilience over narrow economic calculus.

• Fund the System – Increase federal funding for asylum adjudication by at least 40%, matching the surge in arrivals, and hire additional bilingual caseworkers to reduce backlogs.
• End Presumptions of Ineligibility – Repeal the rule that assumes irregular entrants are ineligible unless they can prove a technical failure. Instead, implement a fair, evidence‑based screening that respects due process.
• Abolish Private Detention – Close contracts with for‑profit detention operators and transition to community‑based alternatives that incorporate mental health services and legal support.
• Guarantee Work Authorization – Allow asylum seekers who have filed a claim to obtain immediate, renewable work permits, unlocking their economic potential and reducing reliance on the informal sector.
• Strengthen Community Sponsorship – Expand programs that let local organizations, labor unions, and faith groups sponsor refugees, providing housing, language classes, and job placement.

These reforms are not utopian fantasies; they are policy choices already enacted in jurisdictions like San Antonio, Texas, where a community‑sponsored model has reduced homelessness among asylum seekers by 70% within two years.

The stakes are high. A failing asylum system is a moral catastrophe, a labor market distortion, and a public health hazard. It is time to stop treating asylum seekers as political pawns and start treating them as workers, neighbors, and human beings who deserve a fair chance to rebuild their lives.

Sources

• Outmatched: The U.S. Asylum System Faces Record Demands – Migration Policy Institute (2024)
• By Kathleen Bush-Joseph – Outmatched: The U.S. Asylum System Faces Record Demands (PDF)
• Recent Policy News – Welcome.US (2024)
• Government Accountability Office Report on Fiscal Impacts of Refugee Resettlement (2022)
• American Civil Liberties Union – Detention Conditions Report (2022)
• Brookings Institution – Economic Contributions of Refugee‑Owned Businesses (2021)