Inside the Asylum System: What Faith Looks Like in High-Stakes Decisions with Heather Hogan
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What happens after someone tells a U.S. immigration official, “I’m afraid to go back”? Behind that single sentence is an entire human story, but there is also a complicated legal process that asks government officials to listen, evaluate evidence, apply the law, and make decisions that can profoundly affect another person’s life.
In this episode, we’re joined by Heather Hogan, a former asylum officer and supervisory asylum officer who spent nearly a decade working inside the U.S. asylum system. Heather takes us behind the scenes of credible fear screenings, affirmative and defensive asylum, officer training, credibility determinations, and the difficult realities of interviewing people about some of the worst experiences of their lives. We also talk about how her faith shaped the way she approached authority, compassion, and the people sitting across from her.
Join us this week to learn what asylum officers are actually being asked to decide, why two seemingly similar cases can have very different outcomes, and where trauma, culture, interpretation, and discretion enter the process. We also explore what Heather would change about the asylum system, why justice and mercy do not have to compete, and how humility can change the way we approach immigration conversations before we decide what we think.
Have an immigration question you’ve always wanted answered? Send it our way on Facebook or Instagram for a chance to have it included in our live Conversations for Curious Christians episode at the end of the season!
What You’ll Learn from this Episode about Inside the Asylum System:
What happens after someone tells an immigration official they are afraid to return to their country.
The difference between credible fear screenings, affirmative asylum, and defensive asylum.
How asylum officers are trained to interview people who have experienced trauma.
Why credibility determinations can be more complicated than simply deciding whether someone is telling the truth.
Why people from the same family or with similar circumstances can receive different asylum outcomes.
How Heather’s faith influenced the way she viewed authority, compassion, and the people seeking protection.
What Heather would change about detention, asylum adjudication, and legal pathways if she could redesign the system.
How justice, mercy, and humility can shape more thoughtful conversations about asylum.
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