Will US asylum cases review hurt Chinese?
When it comes to immigration, explosive news hits you almost every day in the US. The latest report that shocked many Chinese was the story broadcast by National Public Radio on September 28.
The lengthy report by veteran investigative journalist Alisa Chang found that American immigration authorities are relooking into as many as 3,500 political asylum cases filed by some Chinatown lawyers found guilty of fabricating stories for their clients.
The applications were approved years ago. Many applicants may have obtained green cards or citizenship by now. But they, including 10,000 of their family members who benefited from the applications, may face deportation. Most of those affected are Chinese.
The news triggered different reactions within the Chinese community. The Fujianese in the US, a significant number of whom benefited from being smuggled into the US and then getting their legal status through political asylum applications, have been soaked in panic. Not all Chinese political asylum applicants had hired the few unscrupulous lawyers. But they worry the government may expand the investigation, re-open all political asylum cases and jeopardize their existence in the US.
Some people in China seem to be gloating over the nightmare with vindictive patriotism. Some articles broadly circulating on WeChat criticize the applicants for “betraying their motherland” and question whether China should accept them if they are sent back.
In the US, some people are labeling them liars and scammers who got their immigration status by cheating the government, demanding they must be punished. These are extreme views.
First of all, it is all but certain that not all 3,500 applicants and their family members will be deported. Immigration lawyers familiar with the situation told me the authorities have been reviewing these cases for some years, ever since lawyers’ offices were raided in 2012.
Some applicants had already been reinterviewed. But most were managing to get their cases closed, often after appeal. There is also no sign that authorities intend to expand the investigation to unrelated cases.
Then comes the moral question on immigration. This is always a murky world that cannot be defined simply in black and white. A 1990 executive order issued by US president George H.W. Bush established China’s one-child policy as a valid ground for political asylum.
This by and large offered all Chinese of reproductive age the chance to apply for asylum. For those who were smuggled into this country and had no other means to obtain legal status, this clause immediately became the straw they could hold onto.
I consider those from Fujian living in the US to be more patriotic to their motherland than Chinese from other provinces. Howsoever they obtained their green card, they always donate a part of their hard-earned money to help their hometowns build roads, schools, hospitals and old-age centers. They are also the ones who don’t mind losing a day’s business to participate in proChina rallies.
If they sought political asylum on the basis of a fabricated story, it is wrong. But the extent and nature of their punishment is open to question.
The political asylum system in the US has been in a mess, and the criteria for granting the request are dubious. Many times, whether a request is accepted or not seems to depend on the mood of the judge on that day. In many ways, the judges seem to be looking for a standardized story rather than individualized ones that are more likely to be authentic. Beautifying and doctoring stories has been a common practice in political asylum application for a long time.
Everywhere in the world, lying is immoral. But some countries take it much more seriously than others. When those who just arrived in the US after a long journey in awful conditions hiding in a ship were told by their lawyers this is the way to do it, it may be hard for them to tell whether this is a serious crime or just a commonly accepted way to get things done. The US had in the past rarely punished those who filed false information in their applications.
If this becomes the beginning of measures to clean up the political asylum application system, it may be a necessary step to take. But if this is only a one time gig, those applicants caught in the middle are indeed victims wronged by an unfair world.