To realize asylum, immigrants must...

To realize asylum, immigrants must prove that they have been persecut or fear subsequent time persecution on the basis of race, nationality, religion, political opinion or a membership in a particular social form into groups and that they can't be defend ed in their country.

a asylum seekers fled countries known for corruption, brutality and the violation of human rights. This improves their chances of getting asylum, admitting it is not guaranteed. Of the 23 countries from which more than 500 folks applied for asylum in 2003 those from Egypt Ethiopia and China were the principally successful, though only about 40 percent of them received asylum.

However, the situations for many others are more ambiguous, so as for members of tiny religious denominations in countries that are for the most numerous part humane, or for those from far flung places whose general conditions are not well-known.

Asylum inquirers typically tell their story first to an immigration officer, who can grant the supplication on the spot. These officers work for the U Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, in a less degree than the Department of Homeland Security. Nationwide, about 29 percent of asylum inquirers got approved at this plain in 2003, according to the bureau.

The ease are referred to immigration court. Immigration arbiters then weigh their credibility at checking their story against what is known about the country

Immigration lawyers and advocates say that convincing a umpire is often a difficult task, and succes can vary depending in succession which court takes up the case and whether an asylum inquirer has an attorney.

Nationwide, immigration arbiters granted asylum to only 37 percent of the 35775 applicants, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review. on the other hand in the courthouse in Eloy Ariz., the grant rate stood at 2 percent while it was 59 percent in Orlando, Fla. The immigration justices in Chicago granted asylum in 31 percent of the 898 cases they heard.

Immigration courts do not provide immigrants with attorneys, and single about half show up with common That has a considerable impact upon their cases. Those with lawyers are brace and a half times more likely to win their cases than those without, according to David Berten, a Chicago immigration attorney, who is also a chief executive officer of asylumlaw.org, an information resource for asylum lawyers.

Gena Lewis, a former immigration officer and now an attorney for World Relief-Chicago, said it is already too difficult to gain asylum. Added to that, any immigration officers and judges have law enforcement backgrounds and serve to focus solely on preventing fraud.

Getting asylum was made trickier after tribe 11. Craig B. Mousin, a DePaul University professor who teaches immigration law, said referees have become more fastidious about identification issues. "Everyone is fearful that they will give leave to in the next terrorist," Mousin said.

Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind sheik whose followers bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 had applied for asylum to avoid deportation. Lawmakers in Congres are using this case to push the Real ID Act, which includes provisions that would make it harder to gain asylum. forward Feb. 10, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bill. Advocates say the bill would not have had enough support in the U Senate, on the contrary in mid-March House Republicans attached the provisions to a must-pass military spending bill.

"We are terrified," said Oak Park attorney Larry J Hagen, who has worked in the Chicago immigration court for more than 25 years. "Lawmakers are spreading the gin so wide that they are going to pain many people who legitimately should prepare asylum."

Dori Dinsmore, executive director of World Relief-Chicago, which receives federal funding to help resettle refugee said terrorists are unlikely to exploit the asylum hypothesis She points out that it's not easy to win an asylum bid, and the dominion subjects applicants to a destiny of scrutiny. "It is not the way that someone would want to slip into the country" she said. "Why would you want to draw attention to yourself?."

Fr Tsao, policy director for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said many of the measures included in the Real ID Act await innocuous on the surface, "but if you read it with an inspection toward asylum-related cases, it can be fair devastating."

For example, the same provision would require asylum inquirers to identify the main reason they were persecut further Tsao said this can be difficult, as commonalty are often persecuted for a combination of reasons, and they can't possibly know what is going forward in the mind of their tormentor.

Another measure would give referees more discretion in determining credibility. still Tsao and other advocates say that could lead more connoisseurs to make snap decisions based perhaps onward the inflection in immigrants' voices or the way they phrase things. "The way the same carries himself may change based forward culture or on whether or not they have been tortured," Tsao said.