| Summary: | Soros Documentary Fund
This documentary takes an in-depth look at the U.S. asylum granting process through the perspective of the Immigration and Naturalization (INS) asylum officers responsible for reviewing asylum applications. The odds of a refugee receiving asylum are about 1 in 200 and depend as much on the personal perspective of the officer assigned to the case as the circumstances involved in each application. According to INS guidelines, the applicant must possess an immediate and "well founded fear" of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, particular social group or political opinion. However, asylum granting is subject to individual biases and inclinations, as asylum officers grapple with discerning the truth in each claim presented to them. Through the cases presented, the film explores the notion of "well-founded fear," and tries to establish what constitutes a well-founded fear, how accurately it can be established, and how many errors are committed simply because fear is subjective.
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