USCIS Ends Some “Holds,” Including on Certain Asylum Seekers

by Jason Dzubow

Last December, USCIS announced that it had “halted all asylum decisions” until it could “ensure that every alien is vetted and screened to the maximum degree possible.” Various other applications were also halted in the name of national security for individuals from the 39 “banned” countries.

Now, in a rare bit of good news from the Trump Administration, USCIS has issued an update indicating that some holds have been lifted for asylum seekers and others. The Agency has not provide much detail, but here, we’ll see what we can glean from this most recent announcement.

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Affirmative Asylum Cases Dismissed and Sent to Court Without an Interview

by Jason Dzubow

One quiet trend that has recently come to light is a new practice at the Asylum Office to dismiss affirmative applications without processing them. The asylum seekers are then subject to “expedited removal” proceedings or otherwise served with a Notice to Appear in Immigration Court. Some are detained. A preliminary evaluation of these dismissals found that many were improper under the law.

Here, we’ll examine this new development, look at who is affected, and discuss how to prepare for the possibility that your case will be dismissed by the Asylum Office.

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A German Right-Wing Influencer Has Requested Asylum in the U.S. Does She Have a Case?

by Jason Dzubow

This post is by Ben Harville, an immigration attorney in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His practice includes family-based immigration, employment-based immigration, asylum, humanitarian relief, citizenship, and removal/deportation defense. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School, where he teaches Immigration Law.

Last year, Naomi Seibt became the first person to request asylum under the Trump Administration’s new refugee priorities, which prioritize applications made by white South Africans and right-wing Europeans. Ms. Seibt gained international prominence in 2019 as the “anti-Greta Thunberg”: a young, Northern European woman who was outspokenly skeptical of man-made climate change. In recent years, she has expanded her focus to include critiques of the German government’s approach to immigration, gender, and other culture-war issues (a typical recent post: “Muslims in Germany will outbreed white Christians. If you don’t think that is horrifying, you are not worthy of the free West that our ancestors fought for”). She is also an outspoken supporter of the right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AFD). Because of these political beliefs, she claims, the German government will persecute her if she returns to her homeland. 

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U.S. to Refugees: “Welcome to America! Now, Go to Jail!”

by Jason Dzubow

A new memo from USCIS and ICE seeks to detain all refugees who have been in the U.S. for more than a year and who have not yet received their Green Cards. This policy represents a cruel and pointless betrayal of our nation’s commitment to human rights, and will cause severe harm to many thousands of vulnerable people. In other words, it’s business as usual for the Trump Administration.

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News from the Asylum Office: Blocking Work Permits & Updating Statistics

by Jason Dzubow

In its ongoing effort to (supposedly) “protect the American people from invasion,” the Trump Administration has published new rules to further restrict Employment Authorization Documents (EADs) for asylum seekers. If implemented, these changes will be quite harmful to people filing new asylum applications in the United States.

What’s more, there is addition bad news buried within the proposed EAD rules. USCIS has included new Asylum Office data, which shows a steep decline in asylum grant rates.

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Board of Imitation Appeals

by Jason Dzubow

The BIA was meant to be the “Supreme Court of immigration,” reviewing decisions by Immigration Judges and USCIS, interpreting the law, and setting precedents. It never quite worked out that way, as the Board has always been overwhelmed, understaffed, and has consistently failed to issue sufficient guidance to the nation’s Immigration Courts. But for all its flaws, the Board offered a modicum of hope that incorrect decisions could be corrected on appeal.

Now, however, new rules will change the way the Board of Immigration Appeals does business. These rules are meant to make the BIA into a rubber stamp for IJ decisions and will almost entirely eliminate due process for non-citizens at the administrative appellate level.

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More Asylum Seekers Are “No Shows” in Immigration Court

by Jason Dzubow

Recent data reveals that increasing numbers of asylum seekers are failing to appear for their Immigration Court hearings and effectively abandoning their applications to remain in the United States.

In FY2023, there were 13,319 abandoned cases in our nation’s Immigration Courts; in FY2024, there were 18,436 abandonments; and in FY2025, the first year of the Trump Administration, the number of abandoned cases soared to 51,446.

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USCIS Begins Re-Verifying — and Sometimes Detaining — Refugees

by Jason Dzubow

Earlier this month, USCIS announced the commencement of Operation PARRIS (Post-Admission Refugee Reverification and Integrity Strengthening) in Minnesota with plans to later expand across the country. USCIS describes the operation as “a sweeping initiative reexamining thousands of refugee cases through new background checks and intensive verification of refugee claims.” The Agency will initially focus on “Minnesota’s 5,600 refugees who have not yet been given lawful permanent resident status (Green Cards).” USCIS adjudicators will conduct “thorough background checks, reinterviews, and merit reviews of refugee claims.”  

As part of this new effort, ICE agents have arrested “dozens of refugees… mainly from Somalia and includ[ing] children.” The targeted individuals mostly do not seem to have any criminal issues, and many have been quickly transported out of state, away from family members, friends, and lawyers.

Today, we’ll discuss what USCIS’s so-called “war on fraud” means for refugees and other immigrants, and how to prepare in the event that your case is subject to re-verification.

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Stateless in Paradise

by Jason Dzubow
This post is by Mikhail Sebastian Okunuga, a coffee connoisseur, world traveler, writer, and memoirist whose work explores statelessness, exile, and the quiet resilience of survival. Drawing from years of displacement and travels across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Pacific—including prolonged immigration detention—his award-winning memoir Stateless in Paradise has received both the International Impact Book Award and The Prestigious International Hope Book Award, honoring its powerful testimony to endurance, dignity, and the human search for belonging.

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ICE, Lies, and Videotape

by Jason Dzubow

Last week, an ICE agent in Minneapolis fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three. Ms. Good was in her vehicle protesting an ICE enforcement action in her city. Most people who have seen the various videos (including me) view the killing as completely unjustified or–at a minimum–believe that the incident requires a fair investigation to determine exactly what happened. Unfortunately, that did not stop President Trump and his team from quickly labeling Ms. Good a domestic terrorist and professional agitator, who the ICE agent shot in self defense. 

The killing and the Administration’s callous response have sparked mass protests in Minnesota and throughout the United States.

It’s difficult to know what to say about this terrible shooting and the subsequent attacks on Ms. Good, but for me, the incident fits a familiar pattern. The Trump Administration lies about anyone it does not like, and then uses those lies to justify harming that person. The difference here is that the harm came first and the lies came afterward. Also, the video evidence allows us to see for ourselves how the Administration is mischaracterizing events.

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Asylum Cooperative Agreements and the Fiction of the Safe Third Country

by Jason Dzubow

A recent Board of Immigration Appeals case highlights the Trump Administration’s latest tactic for blocking asylum seekers from protection in the United States. In Matter of C-I-G-M- & L-V-S-G-, the Board held that two Guatemalan migrants were barred from asylum, Withholding of Removal, and relief under the Torture Convention, and that they could be sent to a third country–in this case, Honduras–to pursue a protection claim there. 

The decision illustrates a new trend in Immigration Court where DHS (the prosecutor) files to pretermit (deny) asylum and order the non-citizen deported. The basis to pretermit is that the applicant could seek asylum in a safe third country pursuant to an Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA) with that country. The Immigration Judge may then deport the person to the third country, where they can supposedly seek protection. 

Here, we will discuss the ACAs and how they are affecting asylum seekers.

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The Secret to Happiness (for Asylum Seekers and Everybody Else)

by Jason Dzubow

Who am I to know The Secret to Happiness, you ask. Mankind has struggled with this question for eons, yet here I am, purporting to know The Answer. What kind of pretentious jerk would make such a claim, especially on New Year’s Day? These are fair points. In my defense, I am currently hung over. I am also not much in the mood to write about all the bad news that’s fit to print–and there is a never-ending supply of that, which I presume we’ll get to soon enough. No, today is a holiday, the beginning of a new year, a time for optimism even–especially–when realism calls for pessimism. And the fact is, in my years of observing asylum seekers, people who have suffered much and are under continuous stress, I have learned The Secret to Happiness, which I will reveal to you forthwith.

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Fight or Flight?

by Jason Dzubow

I recently met with the family of a man from El Salvador who we’ll call Jorge. Jorge was detained by ICE and is facing imminent deportation. He has been in the United States for more than 10 years, has no criminal convictions, and has several relatives with legal status, including his child (a U.S. citizen) and his mother (a permanent resident). Jorge had faced danger in El Salvador: criminals tried to force him to join their gang. They also murdered his uncle. Based on these facts, Jorge is legally eligible to apply for asylum, Withholding of Removal, relief under the UN Convention Against Torture, and Cancellation of Removal. The question for him and his family is whether fighting his case and trying to avoid deportation is a good idea.

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USCIS Restricts Work Permits… Again

by Jason Dzubow

In the aftermath of an Afghan asylum seeker’s attack on members of the National Guard, the Trump Administration began a wide-ranging crackdown on non-citizens from Afghanistan and other “banned” countries, as well as on asylum seekers, refugees, and other migrants.

The most recent iteration of these efforts is the decision by USCIS–justified by “security” concerns–to reduce the validity period for certain categories of Employment Authorization Document (EAD) from five years to 18 months. In combination with prior changes, the shortened EAD will cause tremendous pain to many vulnerable people.

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