REWRITING THE LEGAL FICTION OF ASYLUM CONFIDENTIALITY: RIGHTS, REMEDIES, AND THE THREAT OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
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Authors
Mraz, Rose A.
Subjects
asylum
refugees
non-refoulement
confidentiality
privacy
cyberbreach
information-sharing
international law
tort law
digitization
modernization
refugees
non-refoulement
confidentiality
privacy
cyberbreach
information-sharing
international law
tort law
digitization
modernization
Advisors
Halladay, Carolyn C.
Peters, Lynda A.
Date of Issue
2024-09
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
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Abstract
Failed asylum seekers risk serious harm or death if returned to their home countries following an asylum confidentiality breach. Yet, the United States lacks a legal framework to safeguard asylum information or provide redress when compromised. Agency eFiling and digitization efforts place sensitive asylum seeker data at risk of hacking and unauthorized disclosure in the cloud. This thesis explores how the United States can better ensure the confidentiality of asylum information and provide appropriate remedies to asylum seekers who suffer a breach of asylum confidentiality. In a comprehensive legal analysis, this thesis highlights asylum seekers’ difficulties in pursuing legal remedies for a loss of asylum confidentiality, combining data privacy law, tort law, and European Union law with U.S. legal precedent on asylum confidentiality. This thesis concludes that U.S. asylum confidentiality is a legal fiction. However, utilizing the Department of Homeland Security’s Privacy Office or accepting new asylum applications from aggrieved asylum seekers may prove simple and efficient solutions to increase the protection of asylum confidentiality, provide redress for breaches, and avoid litigation. In anticipation of inevitable data breaches, this proactive posture also permits the United States to control breach messaging, preserve the asylum system, and instill trust in its institutions.
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Thesis
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Distribution Statement
Distribution Statement A. Approved for public release: Distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.