Abstract
The Refugee Status Determination process bears immediate repercussions not only on the formulation of refugee narrative identities, but on how asylum-seekers construct their very sense of self alongside their relationship to their past and future. Yet, International Refugee Law provides no guidance over status determination procedures, establishing a legal void that confers disproportionate power to State discretion. In an epoch characterized by exclusionary non-entrée regimes propelled by a post-9/11 securitization logic, the myopic fixation on border control has generated a dehumanizing surveillance machinery that transformed the asylum system into a threatening opponent of refugee protection, eliminating individual subjectivity and undermining the fundamental prohibition of Non-Refoulement. Drawing insights from several testimonies, this article sheds light on the transformative identity experiences that refugees undergo when forced to navigate a labyrinthine system that prioritizes surveillance and drives the erosion of protection. It demonstrates that today’s determination regime performs an alienating gatekeeping role that defines “Otherness” by forcing the disembodiment of the refugee and driving their narratives’ standardization, objectification, and commodification, and suggests potential pathways for the reconfiguration of hospitality.
Recommended Citation
Rosário Frada,
Refugee Identities at the Mercy of Legal Determination,
68
St. Louis U. L.J.
(2024).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.slu.edu/lj/vol68/iss2/8