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Immigration

Cubans and Venezuelans among the most successful nationalities seeking asylum in the US

The number of granted asylums increased to 37% during the fiscal year 2021

December 12, 2021 12:34pm

Updated: December 13, 2021 3:15pm

Cuba and Venezuela are on the list of the 19 countries that received the most asylum permits in the United States, the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University in New York reported Tuesday.

The TRAC statistics show that 66 percent of applicants from Cameroon and Russia were successful in obtaining asylum, followed by Albania and India with 56 percent, Somalia and Armenia with 54 percent, Venezuela with 49 percent, Cuba with 39 percent, Colombia with 36 percent, Indonesia with 32 percent and Nicaragua with 29 percent.

The three countries with the highest asylum success rates over the last two decades are Nepal with 73 percent, Ethiopia with 72 percent and China with 69 percent.

Mexico and Haiti are among the least successful countries in the U.S. asylum application process over the past two decades, according to the TRAC report.

The five countries with the lowest rates of obtaining asylum in the United States are Mexico with 15 percent, Honduras and Haiti with 18 percent, Guatemala with 19 percent and El Salvador with 20 percent.

People from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador are the largest groups of asylum seekers in recent years, according to the report.

Over the past two decades, 28,745 people from the three countries known as Central America's Northern Triangle have received asylum in the United States and 2,733 people received other forms of assistance, according to the report.

TRAC examined all asylum decisions in Immigration Court records from the fiscal year 2001 through 2021 in order to conduct the report.

During the Biden administration, the total number of asylum requests that were granted during FY2021 rose to 37 percent, after falling below 29 percent under the Trump administration in FY2020.

Fast-File Reporter

Marielbis Rojas

Marielbis Rojas is a Venezuelan journalist and communications professional with a degree in Social Communication from UCAB. She is a news reporter for ADN America.