Abstract
In this chapter, the authors describe the increasing demand for documentation to support a claimant’s narrative. In legal procedures, documents are often considered to be neutral and given more credibility than oral accounts, when in fact, like narratives, they are dependent on the conditions of their production. Documents function very differently in asylum cases than in other areas of law. There is very little standardization, predictability, or reliability in the evaluation of and use of documents in political asylum hearings. Applying Western legal methods to understand these documents (or absence of documents) only exacerbates a situation already complicated by this lack of standardization, the risk applicants take in acquiring or traveling with documents, and the motivation to use fraudulent documents in life-or-death situations.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Notes
- 1.
In his study of the history of the passport, John Torpey reviews the concomitant production of legitimate and fraudulent documents. Writing about the introduction of passports in eighteenth-century France, Torpey writes, “It is axiomatic that fraud and forgery are more or less automatic responses to the imposition by states of documentary requirements of this time” (2000: 49).
- 2.
In the case of Perales Serna et al. vs. Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) the judge refused to grant an injunction against the state of Texas and there was to be a full evidentiary hearing to decide whether the failure to obtain a birth certificate unconstitutionally curtails rights of US citizenship or whether the state’s interest in protecting against fraud outweighs those interests. The case was settled before going to a full hearing.
- 3.
Goodman cites Abankwah v. INS, 185 F.3d 18, 26 (2d Cir. 1999).
Bibliography
Ahluwalia, Navtej. (2008). Personal Interview, London, October 8.
Asencio, Karen Mercado. (2012). “The Under-Registration of Births in Mexico: Consequences for Children, Adults, and Migrants.” Migration Information Source, Migration Policy Institute, April 12. http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/under-registration-births-mexico-consequences-children-adults-and-migrants
Cabot, Heath. (2012). “The Governance of Things: Documenting Limbo in the Greek Asylum Procedure.” PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 35(1): 11–29.
Erlinder, C. Peter. (2008). “When ‘Fear of Persecution …’ Requires Deportation: ‘Catch-22’ False-Document Prosecutions After a Grant of Asylum.” William Mitchell Law Review 35(1): 226–246.
Fernandez, Manny. (2015). “Immigrants Fight Texas’ Birth Certificate Rules.” New York Times, September 17.
Foucault, Michel. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. A. Sheridan. New York: Vintage.
Foucault, Michel. (2012). The Archaeology of Knowledge: Trans. A. Sheridan Smith. New York: Pantheon Books (1972).
Goodman, Sarah R. (2013). “Asking for Too Much: The Role of Corroborating Evidence in Asylum Proceedings in the United States and United Kingdom.” Fordham Int’l LJ 36: 1733.
Gordillo, Gaston. (2006). “The Crucible of Citizenship: I.D. Paper Fetishism in the Argentinean Chaco.” American Ethnologist 33(2): 162–176.
Greenberg, Richard, Adam Ciralsky, and Stone Phillips. (2007). “Enemies at the Gate.” NBC News, December 28. http//www.nbcnews.com/id/22419963/ns/dateline_nbc-international/#.Ux4275HS_k
Human Rights Watch. (2005). “Call for Action Against the Use of Diplomatic Assurances in Transfers to Risk of Torture and Ill-Treatment.” http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/12/eca10660_txt.htm. Accessed March 8, 2008.
Lakhani, Nina. (2016). “Mexico Tortures Migrants—and Citizens—In Effort to Slow Central American Surge.” The Guardian, April 4.
Lipman, Jennifer. (2012). “British Spy Who Saved German Jews Honoured.” The Jewish Chronicle, July 12. https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/british-spy-frank-foley-who-saved-german-jews-honoured-1.34315
Longman, Timothy. (2001). “Identity Cards, Ethnic Self-Perception, and Genocide in Rwanda.” In Jane Caplan and John Torpey (eds.), Documenting Individual Identity: The Development of State Practices in the Modern World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, pp. 345–357.
Macklin, Audrey. (1998). Truth and Consequences: Credibility Determination in the Refugee Context. International Association of Refugee Law Judges, 134–140.
Massey, Hugh. (2010). “UNHCR and de facto Statelessness.” UNHCR Legal and Protection Policy Research Series. http://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4bbf387d2.pdf. Accessed August 31, 2013.
McFadden, John. (2015). “Nicholas Winton, Rescuer of 669 Children from Holocaust Dies at 106.” New York Times, July 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/02/world/europe/nicholas-winton-is-dead-at-106-saved-children-from-the-holocaust.html
McPhee, Michele and Brian Ross. (2015). “US Intel: ISIS May Have Passport Printing Machine, Blank Passports.” ABC News, December 10. http://abcnews.go.com/International/us-intel-isis-passport-printing-machine-blank-passports/story?id=35700681
Moncure, Ewa. (2015) Interview with Robert Siegel, NPR Radio. http://www.npr.org/2015/09/10/439246957/why-syrians-are-entering-europe-with-fake-passports
Neumayer, E. (2006). “Unequal Access to Foreign Spaces: How States Use Visa Restrictions to Regulate Mobility in a Globalized World.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 31(1): 72–84.
New York Times. (2015). “Paris Attacks: The Violence, Its Victims and How the Investigation Unfolded.” November 17. http://www.nytimes.com/live/paris-attacks-live-updates/syrian-passport-reportedly-was-stolen-or-fake
Portelli, Alessandro. (1991). The Death of Luigi Trastulli and Other Stories: Form and Meaning in Oral History. Binghamton, NY: Suny Press.
Preston, Julia (2016). “Lawsuit Forces Texas to Make It Easier for Immigrants to Get Birth Certificates for Children.” New York Times, July 24.
Report of the Panel to Evaluate the U.S. Standard Certificates, National Center for Health Certificates, (2000, addenda 2001).
Sadiq, Kamal. (2009). Paper Citizens: How Illegal Immigrants Acquire Citizenship in Developing Countries. New York: Oxford University Press.
Tinti, Peter and Tuesday Reitano. (2016). Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Savior. London, UK: Hurst Publications.
Torpey, John. (2000). The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship, and the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wiebe, Virgil and Serena Parker (2001–2). “Asking for a Note from Your Torturer: Corroboration and Authentication Requirements in Asylum, Withholding and Torture Convention Claims.” Immigration and Naturalization Handbook. Volume 1. Washington, DC: AILA, pp. 414–435.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bohmer, C., Shuman, A. (2018). Documentary Evidence. In: Political Asylum Deceptions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67404-9_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67404-9_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-67403-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-67404-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)