REFUGEE AND ASYLUM POLICY: NATIONAL PASSION VERSUS NATIONAL INTEREST

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REFUGEE AND ASYLUM POLICY: NATIONAL PASSION VERSUS NATIONAL INTEREST
An NPG Forum Paper
by David Simcox and Rosemary Jenks
February 1992

Our national enthusiasm for welcoming refugees springs from humanitarian and generous motives, and at first glance, it would seem above reproach. However, like many other well-intentioned activities, it has side effects. Refugee movement is a significant pan of migration to the United States, and immigration levels, along with fertility, largely dictate the rate of growth of the U.S. population. Anybody concerned about unemployment and the fate of the poor, or about our long-term ecological future, would do well to learn more about refugee policy, the pressures under which it operates, and the impact it has on immigration and population growth.

David Simcox is a former U.S. Foreign Service Officer, presently Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies. Rosemary Jenks is an analyst at the Center.

— Lindsey Grant, Editor

For most of its history, the United States considered itself a haven for refugees but did not do much about it. With increasing third-world population growth and turmoil in many countries, however, provisions for refugee admissions have become increasingly generous. Part of this has reflected conscious policy; more of it has been more or less accidental, resulting from an accretion of specific concessions won by interest groups through Congress or the courts.

The flow of refugees and other humanitarian admissions now approximates 1.6 million each decade, or some 15.6 percent of total immigration. Immigration, in turn, constitutes a major element in U.S. population growth. At current fertility levels, with immigration at the level set by present law and continued illegal immigration, the United States population will pass 400 million around 2050.

If this prospect daunts the reader, as it does the authors, there are humane ways to bring some degree of order to refugee and humanitarian admissions, which presently are not numerically limited by statute.

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