Home Office Reveals 45 Americans Claimed Asylum in Britain

Fresh Home Office statistics have revealed that dozens of applications have been coming in from people who are claiming persecution in the United States. It is said that anyone can prosper in the United States, but these applicants do not say it so.

Over the past few years, Home Office statistics show that between 2004 and 2008, 45 Americans submitted asylum applications to the UK Border Agency. These Americans were claiming they had fled the United States and were unable to go back, because they had a well founded fear of persecution. There were also fifteen Canadians that applied to live in the UK. However, all 60 of these applicants have been turned down.

A United States government source said that the American applications were most likely submitted by self declared political refugees claiming they faced discrimination under the late administration. The applications from the United States peaked in 2008, the final year of George Bush's presidency, when 15 Americans submitted the asylum claims.

During the years of 2004 and 2008, there were 132,640 asylum claims made in the UK. The Home Office did refuse to reveal just how many of the claims were refused and why, saying that a manual search off the records would be required and would exceed the time limit for Freedom of Information requests.

Although Americans were not able to get asylum in the UK, some Americans have been able to successfully claim asylum abroad over the past few decades. In 1997, the Netherlands granted asylum to Holly Ann Collins and her three children. They were fleeing the United States from domestic abuse.