Utilizing an approach developed from comparative studies of public policy making in the industrialized states, the paper seeks to investigate the main springs of US refugee and asylum policies mainly through an analysis of the domestic political contexts within which these emerged and have subsequently developed. The analysis centres on the utilization of immigration-based policy legacies and state structures for the 'new' purpose of refugee admissions, initially within an isolationist legislative context, but progressively within an emergent globalist consensus. Within this developing consensus, changing public and governmental perceptions of those granted asylum in the USA as, initially, 'exiles' and 'freedom fighters' and, later, 'refugees' and 'political symbols' are examined, with post-1980 developments raising the possibility that such mutations are cyclical. The concluding sections of the paper underline the de facto executive dominance of relevant policy processes and seek to highlight the importance of an appreciation of the significance of the policing and control elements within contemporary policies and practices for a comprehensive evaluation of US refugee and exile politics. © 1988 Oxford University Press.

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