At present, there are millions of mostly nonwhite men, women, and children who seek refuge and will not find it under asylum law. This is a calculated outcome and not an oversight. Asylum law functions as a theatrical production that masks the systematic exclusion of the global south under the guise of humanitarianism. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (“UNHCR”) promulgates the internationally recognized definition of refugee, which was crafted to resettle displaced Europeans in the aftermath of the Second World War. The definition has never been meaningfully extended beyond the European context to include the general right to seek asylum as a member of the human family.

Like much of international law, asylum law was orchestrated by the global north to maintain the benefits of wealth and mobility that emanated from the colonial era. Exclusionary practices that reflect historical imbalances between the global north and south have long been normalized. As such, an asylum-seeker from the global south will likely be unsuccessful because their exclusion has been predetermined. Even though the United States bears responsibility for the conditions that necessitate migration, the exclusion persists.

Thus, the asylum regime is a performative façade that legitimizes the concerted exclusion of persons in need of refuge in ways that mirror colonial-era relationships among nations. By revealing the systemic biases in asylum law, this article calls for the acknowledgment and repudiation of the theater of refuge.