The US asylum system is deeply flawed. But there are ways to fix it | Alexandria Villarreal

The Martha's Vineyard debacle illustrates how important it is to expand our definition - and treatment - of asylum seekers

In the United States, Asylum is a place on a map. Today, the roughly 1,000-person, predominantly white, scattered township sits quietly along the Susquehanna River, about 60 miles north-west of Scranton, Joe Biden's birthplace.

But more than two centuries ago, Asylum hosted the creme de la creme of French society - displaced aristocrats, military officers, business owners, secular clergy - hoping to manifest another Paris in the Pennsylvania woods.