User:Reethespiethes/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Asylum in the United States

Refugee law

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
My PE org, the East Bay Sanctuary Covenant, works primarily with refugees and asylum seekers. As a US based organization, it is subject to unique laws and social dynamics that distinguish the asylum process from that in other countries. This article is important because the United States has experienced a huge influx of migrants and refugees in recent years, especially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is important for the average resident to have some understanding of what precisely asylum is, how it works, and why it matters.

My initial impression of the article was that while it was well-written and accurate, it neglected certain aspects of the asylum procedure that are crucial to a full, trauma-informed understanding of the refugee experience and current institutional dynamics. I have chosen to evaluate the Refugee Law article because the EBSC provides legal aid to refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers. The article as of now seems kinds of short and like it is mainly a connector to other articles about specific international laws.

Evaluate the article
The lead section to this article clearly defines what asylum and refugee status are, and makes it very clear that it is extremely difficult to get granted asylum in the United States, a country that is clearly much less refugee friendly than its colleagues in the OECD. It ends by explaining the requirements one must meet to seek asylum, though it is also implied that many non-refugee migrants meet the same standards and are simply labelled differently as a technicality. It does not, however, go over the different subsections in the article, leaving out many of the nuances and debates that are vital to a full understanding of asylum.

The content is all relevant and up to date, with several references to data from 2021. There is definitely a lack of information on refugee obstacles within the legal process, with much of the focus on the obstacles faced at home and during migration. By providing a more migrant-centered, health-conscious, human rights focus to understanding asylum, the process could better meet Wikipedia's equity standards by representing asylum seekers who are in and of themselves an underrepresented and often alienated group.

The tone is very professional and neutral, with a heavy focus on legalities and data. More citations could be added to the sections "Character of refugee inflows and resettlement," "Application for resettlement by refugees abroad," "Priority One," and "Priority Two," but the rest of the article is carefully and thoroughly cited and the sources look reliable. The organization/formatting makes sense, though perhaps more subsections should be added. Writing quality is uneven; usually it is good, but there are some instances of passive voice and similarly problematic rhetorical tactics that should be adjusted (see criticism section).

There is a general lack of images that makes the article feel very removed; it could potentially benefit from more pictures, though only if they were added in a sensitive manner and served a purpose. The talk page has very little new content, though there is a post from a week ago asking that refugee and asylum law are better distinguished. (The difference: refugees are granted status while still outside the US, asylum is granted while the migrant is already in the country).

Overall, I think it's a very good article that people have clearly poured a lot of effort into. However, there is definitely room for improvement in a handful of different areas (possibly just because the article has not been a center of attention in a long time, if ever). The lead section explains refugee law as a piece of international human rights law. The first section within the page defines refugee and explains how it differs from asylees and displaced persons. It then examines individual international laws, a brief survey of US refugee law, and explains why refugee law is considered part of human rights law. The content seems relatively up to date, but many of the sections could use significant expansion. It may be worth going more into specifics/looking into the implications of these laws, rather than simply examining what refugee law is.

The tone is very formal, with a lot of focus on the scholarly analysis of law and legal policies. It is very well cited and obviously thoroughly researched. There are no images on the page, which makes it look very dry and a little bit neglected. To be fair, however, I am not entirely sure what pictures would actually add to the page, since it seems a little silly to add pictures simply to add pictures. The talk page is very short and has not been updated since 2018. Overall, this article feels a little bit neglected but since it is very formal and its main use is to connect to other articles, this may be simply be from a lack of needing to update it.