Many aliens present or living in the United States have formed either a pragmatic or idealistic view of US Immigration; its laws, policies, and procedures for obtaining residence or citizenship. Accordingly, most choose permanent residence or naturalization as the way to remain in the US. Another means to this end is one not so well known, often misunderstood, and often despised, but it results in quick passage-Asylum. The story that follows then is a glimpse into the the asylum process: the officers, attorneys, executives, and news persons whose careers depend on this branch of Immigration. It is told through the lives of Steven Melkonian, a middle-aged Armenian-American hack journalist and former lawyer still looking for his breakout and Robert Robyn, his South Boston hard-boiled publisher boss and new owner of the Riverside, California Times, a former counter culture paper. Determined to rescue American journalism from the Curse of the Internet, the two men often clash over the means to do this yet understand that they need each other in order to succeed at this Quixotic endeavor. Going for broke, Steve agrees to take on an undercover assignment as an asylum officer to do a feature series exposing internal corruption within the Los Angeles Asylum office. What Steve uncovers during his first couple weeks undercover is a Byzantine web of irregularity so widespread that the interconnection of it all involves everyone from federal court judges to file clerks. While this is a work of fiction and the persons, places, scenes, and events are not to be construed as real, the story does touch on issues cogent and relevant to the current immigration debate. To the asylum officers and their immediate supervisors it can be a thankless job indeed, as the asylum seekers they encounter and interview often arrive with a sense of entitlement and expectation. Moreover, many are not genuine refugees but trenchant liars and chiselers out to game the system as line jumpers in the immigration parade. A few might even be spies or war criminals out to evade justice. With a satirical and spirited style, former asylum officer, George Chalagonian utilizes his knowledge, experience, and insight to expose both salient and cryptic abuses within this generally ignored immigration subculture.
