Last month, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a rule change that affects those immigrants to the U.S. who are seeking asylum. Asylum seekers are typically those who have left their country out of a reasonable fear of persecution based on their identity or political beliefs. According to the latest available data, California is second only to Florida in the number of pending asylum cases.
The new rule is being presented as a means of expediting the processing of asylum seekers and is “designed to reduce the backlog in the asylum system,” according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees USCIS. However, immigrant rights advocates say it will likely cause more people to be denied asylum and be deported.
Affirmative vs. defensive asylum
There are two ways for people from other countries to seek asylum in the U.S. One is called affirmative asylum. That is for those who have legal status in the country – for example through a visa. A USCIS officer decides the outcome of their asylum application.
Defensive asylum is used by those who are going through removal proceedings and want to seek retroactive asylum. It can also be used by those denied affirmative asylum. Immigration judges decide those cases. That’s where the change comes in.
Who does the change affect?
According to the DHS, that system has allowed people “to get a second chance at asylum.” Now USCIS officers can refer those people directly to an immigration judge without first interviewing them. These are the people most likely to be deported because of the new rule. It doesn’t help that under the current administration, over 100 immigration judges throughout the U.S. have been removed.
When the rule change, which has gone into effect but still needs to be finalized, was announced, the USCIS’s current director said, “America’s asylum system exists to protect individuals who genuinely fear persecution and this rule will help ensure that resources are directed to the timely adjudication of those claims instead of to those seeking to use the system as a loophole.”
There’s no doubt, as noted, that a likely outcome of the rule is more deportations of those already in the U.S. who are seeking asylum. That’s why it’s more important than ever for them and their loved ones to seek experienced legal guidance to more effectively protect and assert their rights.