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Kara Zor-El, or rather Supergirl, is arguably one of the most iconic representations of the American way, just short of her cousin Superman. However, in all actuality Supergirl is the definition of an illegal alien. In fact Supergirl is an alien in the legal and colloquial sense. Upon the destruction of her home planet of Krypton (or Argo city depending on the canon), her parents sent her in a pod to escape the impending explosion.
The question is whether or not current law would allow for Supergirl to get some type of protected status in the United States. Although there is some dispute as to her age, the current DC 52 reboot of Supergirl estimates her age to be around 17 years of age. Since she is older than 16, she would not be able to make use of DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). DACA does not grant any type of status, however it does allow for a two year deferral of deportation for individuals who entered the United States before turning 16 and who meet other criteria.
In lieu of DACA Supergirl may try to apply for either asylum or withholding of removal. To do so she must prove persecution based on one of the five grounds for asylum (race, religion, nationality, political opinion, membership in a particular social group). It is not clear that there is any persecution against Supergirl. Her only issue is that the destruction of her planet precludes her from being able to go home.
As of right now this type of “environmental refugee” is not acknowledged by either United States immigration law, or even most international law. Even in New Zealand, Ioane Teitiota was denied asylum as an environmental refugee. Although he claimed that rising sea levels would soon make his home country of Kiribati uninhabitable, the New Zealand Court of Appeal found his arguments “novel,” but “unconvincing.” Despite the fact that the island nation of Kiribati is predicted to be engulfed in waves by the end of the century, the New Zealand Court of Appeals does not find this enough of a reason to adopt the notion of environmental refugees.
Objectively, since environmental refugees still do not seem to garner enough attention in any international forum so as to warrant asylum, they are out of luck when it comes to being protected from the risks they face as climate change refugees. As such, Supergirl, although adopting a home in Kansas, would likely be deported by the State department. How they would be able to physically remove her from the country is a completely different issue though.
The Supergirl image, supergirl, and other fictional stuff in this article are property of DC Comics. Cloud image is Cumulus Clouds Over Jamaica by Keith Pomakis.
Kryptonian Crisis:
The Not-so-Super Truth Regarding the Admissibility of Supergirl
By Kean Zimmerman