Key Terms

Human Security: Human security argues that seeking the security of the individual or community, as defined by that individual or community, is as important–and sometimes more important–as seeking the security of the state. Human security is person-centric, context-specific, multi-dimensional, and preventative. For more information, see "Key Concepts: Defining Human Security." 

Migrant: a person who leaves their country of origin to seek residence in another country.

Refugee: The 1951 Convention Related to the Status of Refugees provides the legal status of refugee to an individual who has left their country of origin and is unable or unwilling to return due to a fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion. (See key concepts for expanded categories and characteristics.)

Internally Displaced Person (IDP): A person who has left their home community either by force or choice in order to flee armed conflict, natural disasters or consequences of human rights violations, but has not crossed an international state border.

Displacement: The forced or pressured movement of persons from their residence and home communities, as a result of or in response to “the effects of armed conflict, situations of generalized violence, violations of human rights or natural or human-made disasters.” (International Organization for Migration)

Durable Solutions: A displaced person achieves a durable solution to their displacement when they no longer require assistance or protection for reasons related to displacement. Durable solutions can be achieved through sustainable return, local integration in place of refuge, or resettlement. An individuals physical, material and legal safety are requirements for a durable solution to be guaranteed. For more information on durable solutions for internally displaced persons, see here.

Environmental Migrant: A migrant who has been forced to leave or chose to leave their place of origin largely as a result of negative environmental change impacts. These impacts do not necessarily have to be related to climate change consequences.

Climate Migration: Migration of an individual or group in response to sudden or cumulative environmental changes related to climate change. Climate migration may be an adaptation measure or a pressured decision as a result of natural or man-made disasters.

Country of Origin: The country where a migrant person or group holds nationality, or where they resided before migrating.

Country of Transit: The country that migrants pass through on their journey between country of origin and country of destination. Due to the extended time it can take to reach the country of destination, migrants may find themselves in a country of transit for extended periods of time while the intention is to remain there only temporarily.

Country of Destination: The country identified by migrants as the destination of their journey. For the case of internally displaced persons, the term used is “place of destination.”

Refugee: The 1951 Convention Related to the Status of Refugees provides the legal status of refugee to an individual who has left their country of origin and is unable or unwilling to return due to a fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion. (See key concepts for expanded categories and characteristics.)

Persecution: A type of harm that is central to applications for asylum. The term is not defined in the U.S. asylum statute. However, it has been defined by U.S. courts to mean “a threat to the life or freedom of, or the infliction of suffering or harm upon, those who differ in a way regarded as offensive.” Generally, such severe forms of harm as imprisonment, torture, and rape as well as death threats are thought of as constituting persecution. Whether less serious actions, such as those thought of as harassment or discrimination, should be considered persecution is decided on a case-by-case basis. To prevail on their applications, asylum-seekers are generally required to prove that they have a “well-founded”, or reasonable, chance of suffering persecution if they are forced to return to their home country.

Particular Social Group (PSG): One of the five grounds for claiming asylum from persecution. The PSG category is broadly defined as a group of people who share a common background or identity that a government views as a threat. The PSG category may include tribal groups, ethnic groups, individuals of a particular social class, etc.

Principle of Non-Refoulement: An international legal principle prohibiting States from forcibly "extradite, deport, expel or otherwise return a person to a country where his or her life or freedom would be threatened, or where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would risk being subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, or would be in danger of being subjected to enforced disappearance, or of suffering another irreparable harm." (IOM 2023)

Integration: A multidirectional process where both migrant and host populations make changes to incorporate the other. Different indicators include but are not limited to: economic, legal, political, social, and cultural integration. For more information, see "Key Concepts: Defining Integration" and "Key Concepts: Process of Integration."

Social Cohesion: The dynamics between people and groups, and the interactions between these groups and their governing institutions in a given setting. Government models of social integration tend to look at social cohesion top-down as adherence to a set of national values or norms, while at the individual or local level, social cohesion is examined more horizontally, looking at behaviors among spatially similar groups.

Social Inclusion: “The willingness of members of a society to cooperate with each other in order to survive and prosper;” however, the term lacks a universal common definition. (Richmond & Saloojee 2005)

Prejudice and Social Hostility: Conditions resistant to social integration that are universal in all people, with gradations: The “focus is not on pairs of individualized sameness or differences, such as black and white, female and male, gay and straight, rich and poor, but rather on us and them.” (Volkan 2017)

Social Capital: “The aggregate of the actual or potential resources that are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance or recognition.” Social capital might be subdivided into four aspects: personal relationships, social network support, civic engagement, and trust and cooperative norms. (Aldrich & Meyer 2015)

Collective Efficacy: “The process of activating or converting social ties among neighborhood residents in order to achieve collective goals, such as public order or the control of crime,” which predicts spatial distribution of crime, poverty, and residential turnover rates. (Sampson 2010)

Social Networks: “A structured set of social relationships between individuals.” In the migration context social networks may be used as a pathway for new migrants to follow previous generations. Social networks have the potential to ease an individual's integration into new communities. (Gurak & Caces 1992)

Ethnic Identity: “The extent to which a person identifies with and positively regards his or her ethnic group.” Migrants' ethnic identity may play a role in how well integration occurs. The perceptions of certain ethnic groups within the host community can make integration and adaptation more difficult or easy depending on the context. (David 2013)

Refugee: The 1951 Convention Related to the Status of Refugees provides the legal status of refugee to an individual who has left their country of origin and is unable or unwilling to return due to a fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion. (See key concepts for expanded categories and characteristics.)

Asylee: A non-citizen who is physically present in the United States or seeking admission at a port of entry, who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of nationality, or to seek the protection of that country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution. Persecution or the fear thereof must be based on race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group (PSG), or political opinion.

Persecution: A type of harm that is central to applications for asylum. The term is not defined in the U.S. asylum statute. However, it has been defined by U.S. courts to mean “a threat to the life or freedom of, or the infliction of suffering or harm upon, those who differ in a way regarded as offensive.” Generally, such severe forms of harm as imprisonment, torture, and rape as well as death threats are thought of as constituting persecution. Whether less serious actions, such as those thought of as harassment or discrimination, should be considered persecution is decided on a case-by-case basis. To prevail on their applications, asylum-seekers are generally required to prove that they have a “well-founded”, or reasonable, chance of suffering persecution if they are forced to return to their home country.

Affirmative Asylum: The process in which asylum-seekers in the U.S. voluntarily present themselves to the U.S. Government to ask for asylum. The affirmative application for asylum is made to the Asylum Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services division of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Non-citizens who have not been apprehended by DHS are eligible to file an affirmative asylum application.

Port of Entry: Any location in the United States or its territories that is designated as a point of entry for non-citizens and U.S. citizens. All district offices and service centers are also considered ports, because they become locations of entry for non-citizens adjusting to immigrant status.

Credible Fear (or “significant possibility”) Interview: An abbreviated interview of a non-citizen who arrives in the United States with false or no documents (and is therefore subject to Expedited Removal) and who expresses a fear of persecution in one’s own country or a desire to apply for asylum. The interview is conducted by an Asylum Officer (of USCIS) and a successful non-citizen is entitled to a full asylum hearing before an Immigration Judge.

Expedited Removal: A process of rapid deportation by Customs and Border Patrol officers of undocumented migrants or immigrants who have committed misrepresentation or fraud without having a hearing in front of an immigration judge. This procedure can also be used to deny migrants entry into the United States. In 2019 the Expedited Removal policy expanded coverage to the entire country, meaning that immigrants anywhere who have not lived in the US for more than 2 continuous years could be subject to deportation.

Defensive Asylum Application: This is an asylum application filed with an immigration judge during removal proceedings in immigration court as a defense against removal from the United States. Individuals are generally placed into defensive asylum processing in one of 2 ways:

1. They are referred to an Immigration Judge by United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) after they have been determined to be ineligible for asylum at the end of the affirmative asylum process, or
2. They are placed in removal proceedings because they:
   (a) Were apprehended (or caught) in the United States or at a U.S. port of entry without proper legal documents or in violation of their immigration status, or
   (b) were caught by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) trying to enter the United States without proper documentation, were placed in the expedited removal process, and were found to have a credible fear of persecution or torture by an Asylum Officer.

Humanitarian Parole: Used sparingly to bring someone who is otherwise inadmissible into the United States for a temporary period of time due to a compelling emergency. There must be an urgent humanitarian reason or significant public benefit for the parole to be granted.

Temporary Protected Status (TPS): A legal grant of permission for nationals of particular countries temporarily to remain in the U.S. Specific countries are designated for TPS by the Attorney General after consultation with government agencies. Countries are selected where unstable or dangerous conditions would pose a temporary threat to returning persons. Under US law, these conditions include:

1. Ongoing armed conflict (such as civil war)
2. An environmental disaster (such as an earthquake or hurricane), or an epidemic
3. Other “extraordinary” and temporary conditions

Grants of TPS are initially made for periods of 6 to 18 months and can be extended. Nationals of designated TPS countries typically must have been in the U.S. since before an established cut-off date. For more information, see here.

Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP)/"Remain in Mexico" Program: Also known as “Remain in Mexico”, is a U.S. Government action whereby certain foreign individuals entering or seeking admission to the U.S. from Mexico – illegally or without proper documentation – may be returned to Mexico and wait outside of the U.S. for the duration of their immigration proceedings, where Mexico will provide them with all appropriate humanitarian protections for the duration of their stay. For more information, see here.

Metering: Customs and Border Patrol officials accept limited numbers of asylum seekers a day—in a process that is known as metering—often communicating directly with Mexican officials regarding these numbers. As lines of asylum seekers grew longer in border cities, Mexican authorities and civil society groups responded by providing humanitarian assistance and creating informal waitlists. For more information, see here.