Yearning to breathe free

JOSEPH, an Egyptian Copt who now lives in Chicago, fled for his life when his apartment in Egypt was vandalised and his car set on fire. Three years ago he travelled to America with his family under the pretext of a business trip and applied for asylum. His hearing at the Chicago Immigration Court, which was supposed to take place this month, has been postponed until February 2017. Joseph, who asked for his surname to remain anonymous in case he is sent back to Egypt, would like to go to university but cannot apply for financial aid as long as his case is pending; so he makes do by working as a cashier at a petrol station and as a taxi driver at night. His case is not unusual: some asylum-seekers in Chicago have hearings scheduled for 2020. Half of them will be turned down.

For much of its history, America has been generous to refugees and asylum-seekers from all over the world. After the second world war the country took in more than 650,000 displaced Europeans. After the fall of Saigon in 1975 it welcomed hundreds of thousands of Indo-Chinese refugees. Since the passage of the Refugee Act in 1980 America has taken in another 3m refugees, more than any other country. It is the biggest contributor to both the World Food Programme and the UNHCR.