Featured Issue: Asylum Under Trump 2.0
On the first day of his second term, President Trump suspended all entries at the U.S. Southern Border for asylum seekers. Since then, the Administration has implemented sweeping restrictions that shut America’s doors to people fleeing persecution. These policies violate federal law, erode constitutionally protected due process, exacerbate the asylum backlog, and give those seeking safety an increasingly narrow path to protection.
Left unchecked by Congress, these policies will have dire consequences for both asylum seekers and the integrity of our legal system. Asylum seekers—especially those without access to counsel—are at grave risk of being returned to harm.
It doesn’t have to be this way. The Administration can maintain order at U.S. borders and effectively manage migration without sacrificing fairness and adherence to the law. With more trained asylum officers, a streamlined legal process, legal representation for asylum seekers, and more effective coordination between relevant agencies, the U.S. can establish a safe, orderly, and humane asylum system.
Browse the Featured Issue: Asylum Under Trump 2.0 collection
FAQs After Federal Court Requires Immigration Courts to Continue to Provide Bond Hearings, Despite Matter of M-S-
The American Immigration Council, and its partners, the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project and the ACLU, issued FAQs after a district court judge issued a decision modifying an existing preliminary injunction in Padilla v. U.S., requiring immigration courts to provide bond hearings.
House Members Send Bipartisan Letter on Reports of Eliminating the Refugee Resettlement for FY2020
On 8/7/19, Representatives Joe Neguse (D-CO), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) led a bipartisan letter opposing the reported proposal of lowering the minimum number of refuges admitted to the United States to zero for FY2020.
El Paso Immigration Collaborative (EPIC) Seeks to Change the Asylum Landscape for Detained Immigrants
The Immigration Justice Campaign, along with local and national partners, launched the El Paso Immigration Collaborative (EPIC). EPIC seeks to increase legal representation for detained immigrants around El Paso and promote oversight of the immigration courts and detention centers in the region.
Senators Send Bipartisan Letter on Reports of Eliminating the Refugee Resettlement for FY2020
On 8/5/19, Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Chris Coons (D-DE) led a bipartisan letter expressing concern about reports that the administration has proposed eliminating refugee resettlement for FY2020 and urging the administration to increase the refugee resettlement cap from previous years.
CA6 Upholds Denial of Asylum to Former Guatemalan Taxi Driver Who Was Threatened by Gangs
The court concluded that the BIA did not err in finding that the petitioner, a taxi driver who lived in a poppy-producing region of Guatemala and who had been threatened by gang members, had failed to articulate a particular social group. (Gonzalez-De Leon v. Barr, 8/5/19)
CA11 Remands Asylum Claims of Pakistani Petitioner Who Practices Ahmadiyya Islam
The court granted the petition for review of the BIA’s denial of asylum to the Pakistani petitioner, a practitioner of Ahmadiyya Islam, finding that the BIA did not afford the case reasoned consideration and ignored highly relevant evidence of past persecution. (Ali v. Att’y Gen., 8/5/19)
The Trump Administration’s Recent Efforts to Undermine Asylum, Explained
AILA member Catha (Nikki) Lyons describes how the administration's “Asylum Ban 2.0“ is contrary to both domestic and international laws and encourages other lawyers to do their best to inform and educate the public about U.S. laws.
CA9 Says Petitioner’s Oregon Conviction for Strangulation Is Categorically a Crime of Violence
The court held that the petitioner’s conviction in Oregon for strangulation was categorically a crime of violence aggravated felony that rendered him removable and ineligible for asylum. (Flores-Vega v. Barr, 8/2/19)
CLINIC Practice Pointer on Matter of L-E-A-
The Catholic Legal Immigration Network (CLINIC) published a practice pointer to provide practitioners with information on how to respond in the immediate term to Attorney General Barr’s 7/29/19 decision in Matter of L-E-A-.
Federal Court Strikes Down Trump Administration Rule Restricting Asylum Seekers
The court vacated the Trump administration’s interim final rule that rendered all noncitizens who entered the United States across the southern border after November 9, 2018, except at a designated port of entry, ineligible for asylum. (O.A., et al., v. Trump, et al., 8/2/19)
Sign-On Letter to Senate Judiciary Committee on the Secure and Protect Act of 2019
On 7/31/19, AILA and other organizations signed on to a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee urging the Committee to vote no to the harmful measures of S. 1494, the Secure and Protect Act of 2019.
How to Shrink the USCIS Backlog in One Minute or Less
USCIS leadership recently testified about a backlog reduction plan which, AILA Policy Counsel Jason Boyd argues, would simply move the goalposts and not solve the backlog at all, writing “We deserve a USCIS that rises to its processing time goals, not one that runs from them.“
CA8 Finds IJ’s Adverse Credibility Finding Was Not Supported by Cogent Reasons
The court granted the petition for review and remanded for a new credibility determination, holding that the IJ’s adverse credibility finding with regard to the Chinese Christian petitioner was not supported by cogent reasons for disbelief. (Tian v. Barr, 7/30/19)
Attorney General Overrules Portion of Matter of L-E-A- Relating to Particular Social Group
The Attorney General found that the BIA improperly recognized the respondent’s father’s immediate family as a particular social group. Decision notes that all cases inconsistent with this opinion are abrogated. Matter of L-E-A-, 27 I&N Dec. 581 (A.G. 2019)
AILA: AG’s Decision Ignores Precedent and Is the Latest Attempt to Restrict Asylum
AG Barr issued a decision in Matter of L-E-A- impacting how family membership could be considered in asylum proceedings. AILA Second VP Jeremy McKinney noted: “Courts, like the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, have voluminous case law directly contradicting the Attorney General’s decision.”
TRAC Finds Access to Attorneys Difficult for Those Required to Remain in Mexico
TRAC found that very few asylum seekers forced to remain in Mexico under the Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) have been able to secure representation for their immigration court proceedings. Of the total of 1,155 MPP cases decided, only 14 (just 1.2 percent) were represented.
Federal Court Allows Challenge to Trump Administration’s Asylum “Turnback Policy” to Move Forward
A district court rejected the government’s attempt to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s allegedly unlawful “Turnback Policy” for asylum seekers who present themselves at ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border. (Al Otro Lado, Inc. v. McAleenan, 7/29/19)
USCIS Acting Director Instructs Asylum Officers to Consider “Possibility” Instead of “Reasonableness” of Asylum Seekers’ Relocation Within Home Countr
USCIS instructed asylum officers to consider whether it would have been “possible” for asylum seekers to relocate within their countries to avoid persecution rather than flee to the United States, even though the appropriate legal standard is whether such relocation would have been “reasonable.”
CA8 Finds Petitioner’s Conviction for Unlawful Possession of a Firearm in Minnesota Was a Particularly Serious Crime
The court found that the IJ and BIA did not err in concluding that the petitioner’s conviction for unlawful possession of a firearm in Minnesota was a particularly serious crime and that the petitioner was thus ineligible for withholding of removal. (Marambo v. Barr, 7/26/19)
It Is Time to Stop Detaining Asylum Seekers
Allegra Love urges an end to the detention of asylum seekers, highlighting the immense harm of detention via two videos writing, “It is time we act, so the story of our country is the bravery and resilience of people like Alpha and Luz, and not the brutality of detention that further harms them.R
CA8 Upholds Finding That Petitioner Who Supported the MFDC Group in Senegal Was Ineligible for Adjustment of Status
The court held that the Sengalese petitioner had failed to meet his burden of proving that MFDC was not a terrorist organization, or alternatively, that he should not reasonably have known that the MFDC was a terrorist organization when he supported it. (N’Diaye v. Barr, 7/23/19)
CA1 Upholds BIA’s Refusal to Reopen Removal Proceedings of Lesbian Ugandan Petitioner
The court upheld the BIA’s denial of the lesbian Ugandan petitioner’s motion to reopen, finding that the motion demonstrated a persistence of negative conditions for members of the LGBT community in Uganda, rather than a material change in those conditions. (Nantume v. Barr, 7/23/19)
CA3 Upholds Denial of Cancellation of Removal to Indian Businessman Who Had Resided in the United States Since 1998
The court upheld the BIA’s conclusion that petitioner, who had entered the U.S. in 1998 from India on a visitor’s visa, was ineligible for cancellation of removal, because he could not show that the requisite hardship would result from his removal. (Radiowala v. Att’y Gen., 7/22/19)
CA7 Upholds Denial of Asylum to Guatemalan Petitioner Who Received Extortion Threats from Gangs
The court upheld the BIA and IJ’s finding that there was a lack of a nexus between the extortion threats and gang harassment that the petitioner had experienced in Guatemala and any protected ground for relief. (Hernandez-Garcia, et al. v. Barr, 7/22/19)
U.S. and Guatemala Issue Joint Statement on Efforts to Reduce Border Migration
The U.S. and Guatemala issued a statement on initiatives aimed at reducing border migration, including expanding capacity of “migrant reception” and an agreement to develop a Foreign Labor Recruiter program for Guatemalan H-2A workers.