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Rule cuts USCIS interviews
Starting Tuesday, the Trump administration will cut off asylum seekers’ access to an interview to weigh their claims, and instead allow officers to funnel migrants into immigration court for deportation proceedings.
“Starting Tuesday, the Trump administration will cut off asylum seekers’ access to an interview”
The change, announced by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and described as taking effect immediately, would allow migrants to be “immediately funneled into the immigration court system without ever getting a chance to make their case to USCIS.”
USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in a statement that “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.”
The rule notes that more than 440,000 cases could be transferred to immigration court, and the Hill reported that the new rule took effect without going through a notice and comment period.
The Hill also said the administration’s approach comes as immigration court judges have been allowed to dismiss some cases without a hearing, prompting critics to say some migrants may never be able to make their case.
Critics warn of faster deportations
Attorneys said the Trump administration’s plan could lead to people being removed from the United States without a hearing, as the rule took effect immediately and could transfer nearly 450,000 cases to immigration judges.
The Washington Post reported that immigration judges could dismiss asylum petitions under the new process, while the Hill said the policy is designed to ensure applicants do not get “a second chance at asylum.”
Beth Oppenheim, president and CEO of HIAS, said the impact of the rule could be “disastrous for people in need of safety,” arguing it makes it easier for the government to deport people back to situations they fled.
Ben Johnson, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said the rule would “stack the scales of justice against vulnerable people fleeing torture and persecution” by putting them into adversarial court hearings and likely into detention.
Johnson also framed the change as part of a broader pattern, saying it was “one more nail the Administration has hammered into the coffin of the U.S. asylum system.”
Backlog shift and legal fight
The Hill said the rule’s immediate implementation and bypassing of a notice-and-comment period is a detail “likely to be scrutinized in expected future litigation,” as USCIS framed the change as a way to direct resources to timely adjudication.
“likely to be scrutinized in expected future litigation”
The Miami Herald reported that USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said the asylum system had been “exploited for purposes of delay and work authorization,” while the agency said the rule was enacted to “reduce the backlog in the asylum system.”
The Miami Herald also cited an estimate that 444,724 of the 1.4 million cases in the affirmative asylum backlog would be affected, and it described the rule as allowing USCIS to more quickly identify aliens that pose a danger to public safety or national security.
Courthouse News reported that USCIS wrote in the interim final rule that it “will no longer offer interviews to all affirmative applicants prior to referral to [Executive Office for Immigration Review],” and it warned that immigration lawyers fear the change will be used to speed up asylum rejections and subsequent deportations.
The Hill added that under the Trump administration, immigration court judges have been allowed to dismiss some cases without a hearing, and it said rescue and court timelines are now being reshaped by the new referral pathway.
