Violation of International Obligations by the United States vis-a-vis Asylum Seekers in Caravan

The proper reaction to the mass influx of asylum seekers is a great challenge of the international community. The approval of the New York Declaration for Immigrants and Refugees by a unanimous vote of 193 member States at the General Assembly (19 September 2016) and subsequently the approval of the international Pact for Refugees (December 17, 2018) would support this claim. Mass influx is not only a source of crisis for host States but it can also lead to widespread human rights violations if the host States refuse to comply with the non-refoulement obligation. The present research provides legal evidence to broaden the scope of non-refoulement from a purely contractual and an “in-territory” obligation to a contractual and customary “in-the-border” obligation. This would make it possible to argue that the United States has breached its conventional and customary obligations under international refugee law.