From “The Asylum Seekers: A Chronicle of Life, Death, and Community at the Border” by Cristina Rathbone
There are five ways you can qualify for asylum, she told the large group of adults that had gathered around her in the place on the street where the kids gathered each day for class. “Only five,” she said again, holding her left hand up in the air, fingers splayed, and then folding one finger down with each point as she went slowly through them. You may qualify for asylum, she explained, only if the violence you fear is directed toward you because of: Rason 1 (finger down): your race. Reason 2 (finger down): your religion. Reason 3 (finger down): your nationality. Reason 4 (finger down): your political opinion. Reason 5 (finger decisively down): your membership in a particular social group. Any violence or harm that doesn’t fall into at least one of these categories fails to qualify as cause for asylum in the States, she said twice.