Asylum seeker

An Asylum seeker or refugee, often referred to as a refu, is an individual who has been displaced from his or her home region due to war and violence; famine or out of fear of persecution, and seeks to live in a foreign nation.

Complying with its standard immigration laws, the Unified Earth Government reacted negatively to colonial asylum seekers during the latter years of the Human-Covenant War. With the ever present threat of being the next colony to be glassed, people from worlds like Coral gained entry to Earth, being forced into refugee camps. Sophia Bossedon used underground connections to get an illegitimately-earned visa in order to avoid being caught and sent back. When such "illegal aliens" were forced to suffer the realization that their homeworld had finally been destroyed in 2552, Earth continued to intern these people despite there no longer being anywhere to return them to; Sophia was caught up with the post-Coral internment.

In the years immediately after the Human-Covenant War, refugees from the former Covenant member and client races sought asylum on Earth, leading to the South American city of Rio de Janeiro becoming a hotspot for migration (whether it has been outfitted for such an event, or is simply a popular destination is uncertain). Not all asylum seekers migrate to a host country for legitimate means; at the time of the Didact's attack on Earth, elements of Spartan were tasked with stopping a Sangheili terrorist from detonating a HAVOK tactical nuclear weapon.