ABSTRACT
Introduction Forced migration to Europe differs significantly from that to the U.S. Most persons arriving in the U.S. for humanitarian reasons do so as resettled refugees, which allows for considerable control over numbers and for the pre-screening of those admitted. In Europe, in contrast, individuals claiming persecution arrive almost exclusively as (spontaneous) asylum seekers at the border and the decision as to whether or not they qualify for protection is therefore taken while the claimants are already on a state’s territory. The security challenges resulting from spontaneous asylum seekers are therefore potentially greater than those of resettled refugees.
