Asylum in the U.S. is hardly a short-lived or casual concept that legal authorities have warmed to in select instances only from relatively recent times.

In fact, individuals and families have been applying for the protection that asylum provides for centuries, and America has responded with compassion and an in eminently ethical way millions of times.

And the reason for that is not hard to understand: The United States is nothing if not a nation of immigrants who have come from the distant shores of scores of countries to flee the troubles of their native lands and seek a new beginning in a country holding great promise.

Candidly, the present demographic profile of the United States was spawned by high numbers of familial ancestors who came to America because they feared persecution — often deadly persecution — for broad-based reasons ranging from their religion and race to their nationality or political views.

That singular history has kept alive a collective American sympathy for persons who continue to have such problems. The United States continues to be a beacon of hope for persecuted persons seeking asylum.

Notwithstanding the country’s long history of offering help to persons suffering from persecution elsewhere, a grant of asylum is hardly automatic. As we note on our website at the Coughlon Law Firm, PPLC, in Phoenix, an asylum application must be timely, detailed, complete and strongly persuasive in its ability to satisfy some very exacting particulars.

A proven immigration attorney can help an asylum applicant at every step of the process, from pre-filing contemplation focused upon remembering and documenting relevant facts and details to preparing for an asylum interview.

Asylum can be a life rope for a desperate individual or family. It is imperative that an application be completed as carefully as possible.