Proposed Amendments to Asylum Law

The Immigration Law world has been shaken up as of late by a proposed memo released with plans to limit who can apply and be approved for asylum. These limitations are so drastic that this proposal is facing criticism from Amnesty International, American Immigration Council, American Immigration Lawyers Association, and many more. If the rule is actually enacted, asylum claims would become obsolete. Among the plethora of paralyzing changes that can potentially occur are some of the following…

No gender based claims including fleeing domestic violence or any gender based assault.
Gives immigration judges the right away to pre-terminate applications before the applicant can even appear in court with no hearing.
Allows non- legally trained asylum officers to deem applications frivolous conflicting with the non-adversarial asylum screening rules already in place.
Applicants can be denied for failing to first seek asylum or pay taxes before arriving to the U.S. in another country. For example if the applicant took a connecting flight they can be denied.
Applicants will face a significantly more challenging screening and instead of being sent to full immigration court they will face another form of asylum and withholding hearing where other forms of relief will not be considered.
Applicants being persecuted by foreign government officials will not qualify for asylum if that government official is proven to be acting on their merit
Applicants that have refused to join a criminal or terrorist group that cant be traced legally back to the government.

This is just a short list of the changes in the extensive 161 page proposed rule that you can read in its entirety here . These proposals are facing constitutional challenges. Most importantly, it is essential to note this rule is directly going against our right to due process here in The United States. These are uneasy times for immigrants but if this rule is approved it will be detrimental to asylum seekers and attorneys. For more help and information do not hesitate to contact us a (973)542-0200.