Asylum Seekers
“Humans are the only species on earth that hunts, tortures and murders to their equals for pleasure.” In Asylum Seekers, Juan Rodulfo — a former Venezuelan Army officer who fled his country and helped over 100 families seek refuge — reports on the global refugee crisis, from the U.S. border and the Mediterranean to Venezuela’s collapse.
What’s inside
Part researched report, part firsthand testimony, Asylum Seekers moves from the legal history of asylum to the crises unfolding right now across five continents.
- Preface — a family’s flight from Venezuela, and the movie (Elysium) that explained it.
- Definition — what “political asylum” means: the right to asylum, medieval England’s sanctuary, and modern law.
- Relevant Facts — eight dangerous myths debunked, plus the Refugee Council’s top 20 asylum facts.
- America — the United States, the “Caravans,” detention centers, and immigration courts.
- Europe & Africa — the EU, France, the UK, and deaths in the Mediterranean.
- Oceania & Asia — the Rohingya crisis: who they are, why they flee, and its scale.
- Venezuela — human-rights reports (2017, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch), U.S. sanctions, and executive orders.
- Bureaucracy — the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1965 Immigration Act, and asylum in Europe, South Africa, and Australia.
- The Author — bio, publications, podcasts, music, and where to find the books.
Plus endnotes with full sources, and a look at the author’s other books: Remain Silent, Gorilla Handbook, and Why Maslow?
What readers are saying
“Rodulfo does what few writers dare: he makes the border a moral question, not a political slogan. Asylum Seekers will stay with you long after the last page.”
— Advance reader, immigration attorney
“A rare book that is both a reference and a testimony. I’ve taught migration for a decade and I’ve never seen the facts assembled with this much clarity and heart.”
— Advance reader, political science lecturer
“Written from inside the asylum system, not about it. You feel the fear, the waiting, and the cost of hope on every page.”
— Advance reader, human rights caseworker
“A book that refuses to flinch. Part report, part testimony, entirely human.”
— Advance reader and editor
“I read it in one sitting, then handed it to my parents. This is the book I wish my family had when we first crossed.”
— Advance reader, first-generation migrant
About the author
Juan Ramón Rodulfo Moya is a Venezuelan-born writer, publisher, and former Army officer who fled his country in 2014 with his wife and daughter. He has helped more than one hundred Venezuelan families — and families from Ecuador and Colombia — prepare their asylum applications, and founded asiloenusa.info. The author of a dozen bilingual (EN/SP) books, he holds a Master’s in Human Resource Management and describes himself as an “Inhabitant of Planet Earth” and a “Defender of Human Rights, Peace and Love.”
Asylum Seekers
