Asylum is a protection granted to foreign nationals already in the United States or at the border who meet the international law definition of a “refugee.” The
United Nations 1951 Convention and
1967 Protocol define a refugee as a person who is unable or unwilling to return to his or her home country, and cannot obtain protection in that country, due to past persecution or a well-founded fear of being persecuted in the future “on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.” Congress incorporated this definition into U.S. immigration law in the Refugee Act of 1980.