Ripon Forum


Vol. 57, No. 3

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In this edition

With each new week seeming to bring a new advancement in artificial intelligence, the latest edition of The Ripon Forum examines the role of Congress in regulating AI and how our lives and our world may be reshaped and impacted in the years ahead.

The Role of Congress in Regulating Artificial Intelligence

As policymakers begin to tackle the issue of AI, it is vital that we maintain the agility of our technology and strike a careful balance between protecting consumers and protecting innovation.

How AI is Reshaping the Battlefield

Data, advanced algorithms, computing power – these are the weapons that will determine the fight for information.

AI and the Future of Schooling

Advances in artificial technology create new opportunities to tackle persistent challenges in schooling. But we must be clear-eyed about the technology and how it is used.

How AI is Reshaping Transportation

AI has emerged as a transformative force in transportation, one that will affect both how we use transportation – the demand side – and how we supply transportation facilities and services.

How AI can Reshape Lawmaking in the U.S. Congress

The integration of AI into the lawmaking process has the potential to significantly reshape the way laws are created and implemented — just ask ChatGPT.

Memo to Washington: AI Needs Your Full Attention … Now!

The development and deployment of this one specific type of AI technology — large generative models such as GPT4 — is outpacing our ability to understand their strengths and limitations.

Bring Back Conference Committees

Like so many aspects of the legislative process, the Conference Committee has fallen victim to the dramatic shift of congressional power to party leadership.

Should America Continue to Accept Asylum Seekers? Yes.

America has always been a land of refuge and will continue to be so. That is the easy part of any debate about refugee and asylum issues.

Should America Continue to Accept Asylum Seekers? No.

Today, the U.S. has needlessly made the administration of providing refugee protection confusing by creating two separate paths and processes: An alien overseas applies for refugee protection, while an alien at our border or inside the U.S. applies for asylum.

Ripon Profile of María Elvira Salazar

The Representative of Florida’s 27th Congressional District discusses her time in Congress and her legislative priorities.

Should America Continue to Accept Asylum Seekers? Yes.

Our Founders wanted America to be a Refuge, and It Remains a Part of Our Identity Today

Refuge in America. So many hopes of so many people in the world rest on those three words. So much of American history rests on those three words. Our nation’s founders saw America as a land of refuge, whether it was George Washington’s hope that the country could be a “safe and agreeable Asylum to the virtuous and persecuted parts of mankind” or Thomas Jefferson’s hope that it could be a “sanctuary” from the “misrule of Europe.” It is hard to imagine the United States without its role as a place of refuge for those fleeing political, religious, or cultural persecution. Often the reasons for providing refuge have been directly related to U.S. actions — for example, refuge for former allies from collapsed pro-American governments in Vietnam and Afghanistan. At other times, the reasons for providing refuge have been less directly related to U.S. actions and reflect a more general humanitarian response to wars, dictatorial regimes, or natural disasters.

America has always been a land of refuge and will continue to be so. That is the easy part of any debate about refugee and asylum issues. The more difficult question is how many of what kind of people should be provided refuge. That question has been addressed by the United States in two main ways. First has been a modestly-sized formal refugee program — about 10 percent of overall immigration—designed to be open to the whole world and consistent with the goals of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Second has been a broad set of more flexible, ad hoc programs that have addressed specific American concerns: religious minorities in Russia, Cubans fleeing a still-communist country, natural disasters in Haiti and Central America. Those programs mostly take the form of either temporary status in the United States (various forms of parole and protected status) or special immigration programs: for example, Cubans through the Cuban Adjustment Act and Afghan and Iraqi interpreters through Special Immigrant Visas. The numbers provided refuge through such programs have varied depending on world events and the interests of particular administrations — sharply down under the Trump Administration, sharply up under the Biden Administration.

None of these programs, however, addresses one particular and primal refuge situation. Somebody simply shows up at the door, uninvited and often unknown. The “door” may be at the border or anywhere inside the United States.

The number of people provided refuge through all these options can be at least partially controlled by adding or deleting programs or simply changing program criteria and procedures. None of these programs, however, addresses one particular and primal refuge situation. Somebody simply shows up at the door, uninvited and often unknown. The “door” may be at the border or anywhere inside the United States. There is no referral from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), no channel of “lily pads” and “safe havens” (as for Afghans), no U.S. ships picking up people at sea (as for Vietnamese), no international conferences on regional conflicts that generate promises of resettlement slots.

These people showing up “uninvited” are refugees in the general sense of the word. In legal terms, however, they are “asylum seekers.” If approved, they become “asylees” rather than “refugees.” This separate asylum track is based in the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980. That Act, following the UNHCR, has specific grounds for deserving refuge, leading to especially contentious arguments about whether the fear and suffering causing flight are a direct result of government persecution in countries of origin — or of a government’s utter failure to protect its own people.

Furthermore, asylum processing is inherently legalistic and requires that each individual case be considered on its own merits. The perceived problem today is that this asylum system is out of control. The numbers are high and threaten to become higher. Yet each case takes time, often years. In the interim, releasing asylum-seekers into the community—especially if they have relatives—is more humane and certainly more cost-effective than incarcerating asylum-seekers for the duration of their cases.

That asylum system is facing high case numbers that make its individual case approach excruciatingly slow—at least without greatly expanded resources that the U.S. Congress is unlikely to provide.

The “asylum problem” in the United States, then, reflects a quandary. Asylum is a laudable and legally mandated system for those individuals who do not fit easily into other U.S. options for providing refuge. However, that asylum system is facing high case numbers that make its individual case approach excruciatingly slow — at least without greatly expanded resources that the U.S. Congress is unlikely to provide. The Biden Administration is attempting to alleviate this inherent quandary by expanding other options — most of them temporary — so that potential asylum seekers have broader and more regularized options.

Predictably, the results are mixed, and the fundamental quandary remains. The individuality of asylum cases, including due process, does not mesh well with high numbers, much less high and rising numbers. That is indeed a problem. But it is no reason to ignore a fundamental human right that also happens to be a U.S. legal requirement as well as a fundamental value underlying our Republic.

David Haines is a Professor Emeritus at George Mason University and author of Safe Haven: A History of Refugees in America.