Mullin v. Al Otro Lado · ¶159

Section 1158(a) and the rest of the current asylum system developed in response to the international moral reckoning that followed the Holocaust and World War II. One infamous incident, the voyage of the M. S. St. Louis, is emblematic. In 1939, over 900 Jewish refugees attempted to flee persecution in Nazi Germany by setting sail aboard the M. S. St. Louis, which was headed to Cuba and the United States. The ship docked in the Havana harbor for days, but the Cuban Government refused to allow the fleeing passengers offboard. The ship then sailed near the Miami coastline, but the U. S. Government also turned them away in part because the immigration laws at the time had strict country quotas and the relevant quota was already filled for that year. The ship sailed to Canada and was again turned away. It eventually returned to Europe. Tragically, over 500 of the refugees that had attempted…

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