Eritreans and Ethiopians seeking asylum in the USA

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By Kidane Araya, PhD
Aug 9, 2006, 12:43 PST

This short note is intended to help Eritreans and Ethiopians seeking asylum in the USA. The information is taken from the records of Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

Eritreans and Ethiopians seeking asylum in the USA can be categorized into one of the followings:

Those who enter the USA using legal documents i.e., carrying Eritrean and Ethiopian passports,
Those who enter the USA by air using fake i.e., illegal documents,
Those who enter the USA as stowaway (by sea) using ships heading to the USA,
Those who enter the USA by land mainly across the USA Mexico border carrying no documents with or without the help of smugglers.

Here are the results of their application for the last eight years.

Results Eritreans Seeking Asylum in the USA Fiscal Years 1997-2005

Fiscal Year	Applied	Granted	%Granted	Conditional	Denied	Abandoned	Withdrawn	Other
1997	37	12	32%	0	5	0	0	15
1998	103	30	29%	0	17	0	2	10
1999	104	42	40%	0	27	2	3	28
2000	140	33	23%	0	40	2	3	26
2001	157	59	38%	0	50	3	4	25
2002	198	42	21%	0	89	1	5	37
2003	127	66	52%	0	65	4	5	27
2004	141	61	43%	0	35	2	11	25
2005	149	68	45%	0	34	4	8	34
Total	1156	413	36%	0	362	18	41	227

Results Ethiopians Seeking Asylum in the USA Fiscal Years 1997-2005

Fiscal Year	Applied	Granted	%Granted	Conditional	Denied	Abandoned	Withdrawn	Other
1997	674	275	40.8	0	251	0	21	203
1998	648	185	28.5	0	248	2	54	150
1999	528	214	40.5	0	180	14	25	125
2000	677	235	34.7	0	199	8	28	162
2001	724	218	30.1	0	213	22	28	122
2002	802	232	28.9	0	339	27	47	140
2003	604	239	39.6	0	269	11	41	135
2004	802	260	32.4	0	233	27	51	179
2005	550	264	48.0	0	189	13	51	115
Total	6009	2122	35.3	0	3121	124	346	1331

The main factors for winning or loosing an asylum case seem to be:

The personality of the applicant.
Strength of case.
The representation with or without an expert immigration attorney. One needs to communicate with his/her attorney good enough during preparation to court.
The Immigration judge. Some grant others � To have an idea about this please visit:

http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/judgereports this will help you have an idea on the probability of your judge to grant you asylum.

http://trac.syr.edu/immigration/reports/160/

Read it and find out for yourself. Moreover, with or without a help from your relative, brother/sister, a fianc�, a lover, boy/girl friend or even an enemy, I recommend you to visit these sites and links beyond that.

Good help you poor people win your case. After you win your case, I ask you to help other poor people that is trying to survive.

Last but not least, please note that I have never had a single course in Social Laws of any kind.

God is with us.