The United States has long been a haven for political refugees. But there are examples of operatives from the home government tracking, harming, and killing political opponents who have come to the U.S. for protection.
Probably the most famous example occurred only a few blocks from my office, in Sheridan Circle in 1976, when Chilean dissident Orlando Letelier and his American assistant Ronni Moffitt were killed by a car bomb. Mr. Letelier held a number of top government jobs in Chile during the Salvador Allende government, but after President Allende was ousted in a coup (and murdered along with thousands of others), Mr. Letelier was detained and tortured by the new government, led by Augusto Pinochet. Thanks to international pressure, Mr. Letelier was released and made his way to the U.S. Here, he worked and lobbied against the Pinochet regime. These activities brought him to the attention of Pinochet supporters and the Chilean secret police, who organized the assassination with help from several anti-Castro Cubans. Mr. Letelier and Ms. Moffitt were killed when a bomb planted in their car exploded. Ms. Moffitt’s husband was injured. Ultimately, a number of Chileans and Cubans were charged in relation to the murders, though none served more than a few years in prison.
I have seen less dramatic examples of this type of foreign interference in my own practice. One of my asylee clients is a journalist and activist from Balochistan, a troubled region of Pakistan where dissent has been brutally repressed. My client has a long list of colleagues and friends who were murdered by the Pakistani authorities. Ultimately, my client had to flee Pakistan to save his life. In the U.S., he continued his activities and I went to see one of his talks. Among the attendees was a representative from the Pakistani embassy, who was present to let my client know that he was still being monitored by his home government.
Another example is a client from Iran who was an activist for democracy and secularism. The Iranian government sent someone to film the outside of his house in Virginia. They also hacked his lap top and recorded video from inside the house. All this was broadcast on Iranian television. In addition, an Iranian operative set him up and caused him to be arrested for a crime in the U.S. The conviction landed my client in removal proceedings, and made him ineligible for asylum. In the end, he received protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture and was able to remain in the U.S., even though he did not feel entirely safe here.
A new report from Freedom House documents cases involving “transnational repression,” and finds that “governments around the world have engaged in increasingly brazen attempts to stifle dissent by attacking critics who live abroad.” Freedom House has documented 735 incidents of “direct, physical transnational repression” between 2014 and 2021, with 85 incidents occurring in 2021. Many of these incidents were facilitated by the host country (such as arrest and forced repatriation to the country of feared persecution), but some occurred without the consent of the host country. For example, repressive regimes, led by China and Turkey, threatened, harmed, kidnapped, and killed dissidents in third countries.
The report lists several examples from the United States, and notes that, the “governments of Iran, China, Egypt, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, and other states are increasingly and more aggressively disregarding US laws to threaten, harass, surveil, stalk, and even plot to physically harm people across the country.” Sometimes family members in the home country are detained or threatened, as a way of controlling dissidents abroad. Repressive regimes also initiate abusive Interpol notices based on false criminal charges. Such notices could result in a person’s extradition to the country of feared harm, and even if that fails, they are an effective way to intimidate political opponents who are overseas.
As the report notes, asylum seekers are particularly vulnerable to transnational repression since they are waiting–often for years–to learn whether they might be deported to a country where they face harm. During this time, they may be unable to obtain a passport and they live with the knowledge that their home government may yet obtain custody of them.
Fortunately, there have been some recent positive developments related to transnational repression. The U.S. government is aware of these abusive tactics and has been responding. In 2021, the Justice Department issued indictments against foreign agents from China, Iran, and Egypt, all related to transnational repression. Also, late last year, Congress passed the “Transnational Repression Accountability and Prevention (TRAP) Act,” which “attempts to counter cooptation of Interpol by authoritarian states” and will hopefully protect political dissidents from abusive Interpol notices.
It is important that the U.S. government take a stand against transnational repression, since authoritarian governments are increasingly working together to persecute dissidents across borders, and the world is becoming less safe for opponents of repressive regimes. The United States should continue and expand its efforts to support activists for democracy and freedom, as this is a powerful way to help counter the growing international authoritarian movement. Our asylum system was created for this very purpose–a tangible manifestation of our commitment to protect those who support our values. But granting asylum is not enough. We also need to ensure that asylees and asylum seekers are safe within our borders, and that hostile foreign powers face harsh consequences when they violate our national sovereignty to harm those we have chosen to protect.
Hi HK,
Congratulations for well deserved approval after a long and uncertain period of time.
I am in similar boat waiting for the last 6 years for first interview based on affirmative asylum and still there is uncertainty.
I am searching for other possible options and EB2-NIW is one of them . Can you please share the details of an attorney who filed for you(may be it can benefit me)
I am keen to know the requirements for EB2-NIW exceptional ability category. If you can share your success journey please!!
Thanks
SA
Hi- who’s HK?
HK commented few days go
Hi there, I had individual hearing in January 2022 in California and they cancelled it due to Omicron, today in their portal they gave me a new court date for July. My question is, in the portal it says Master Hearing and doesn’t says Individual Hearing, is that a typing mistake or I have to do my master hearing again which I already did in 2018?
Thanks
My guess is that it is not a mistake and you will have a Master Hearing again, which is a total waste of time. Given that it is next month, there is really no sense in trying to make it faster. You can just attend and ask the judge for the soonest date possible. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason and everyone,
An update on my friend’s asylum Master Calendar Hearing court date at the Nebraska office. I’ve been checking the EOIR website regularly and this week it showed a new date for the hearing, July 2025. She filed her asylum case in 2016, had her interview in 2019, and was referred to immigration court in August 2021 with a MCH court date of July 2022. In November 2021, she married a US citizen she’d been dating for over a year.They filed their I-130 and I-131 in January 2022 and received confirmation but no word yet, just that’s it’s under review. They just had their religious wedding service in the church and recently bought a house together.
Our biggest concern has been that she will lose her asylum-based EAD before she is able to adjust status and get her green card. She has a good job. She applied for TPS in September 2021 but didn’t apply for an EAD since she had one. No word yet on TPS, but she may apply for an EAD tied to TPS once she receives it. Can she do this when she already has an EAD tied to her asylum case? Can she do it before she receives confirmation of TPS? Our idea is that once the I-130 is approved and she has the TPS EAD as insurance, she could then petition the judge to terminate the asylum case and either adjust status with USCIS or ask the judge to grant the green card in court. Our concern is that everything is moving very slowly right now and with an EAD tied to TPS, she’d be able to work while this makes its way through USCIS. Does this make sense?
As always, thank you so much.
I agree that having the TPS EAD will give her more flexibility and should solve the problem of potentially losing the EAD if the court case is terminated. There are other ways to do this as well. For example, she could file the I-485 with USCIS even though she is not currently eligible to get the GC with USCIS and file for an EAD based on the pending I-485. The advantage is that she does not have to pay for the EAD (since it is included with the I-485 fee), but the disadvantage is that she might ultimately lose the I-485 fee, depending on how the case proceeds. You could talk to a lawyer to review the options, but of course, that may cost money as well, and so the TPS EAD may be the best bet. In terms of whether she can file the EAD while the TPS is not yet approved, I am not sure. Normally, we file for both at the same time, but you will need to check the form instructions to see if there is a process to file for an EAD based on a pending TPS application. I have not done that before and am not sure about the procedure. Take care, Jason
Thank you Jason. I wish she’d gone ahead and filed for the TPS EAD at the time, but at that moment it didn’t seem to make sense. As always, we appreciate your help.
Thank you Jason.
Hi Jason, I got my green card asylum-based approval after 4years of waiting. My question is how long should I wait to apply for citizenship even though they don’t backdate the green card.
Is the time I’ve spent in the US with asylum granted status will count towards citizenship? Thanks
If USCIS failed to back-date the GC, that is an error. You can try contacting them to correct this error (start by calling 800-375-5283 or maybe you can try the link under Resources called USCIS Help). My sense is that this will not be easy, and for our clients who had this problem, they have opted not to bother (I think it is only two clients). Certainly, though, you can try. If you cannot change the date on the GC, I think you have to wait 4 years and 9 months after the GC date and then you can file for citizenship (assuming you meet all the other requirements). The time in asylum status does not count. Take care, Jason
Usually how many years do they backdate, because I read somewhere they only backdated one year. Thanks
If you get a GC based on asylum, USCIS is supposed to back date the GC one year from date you receive it. However, recently, they have not always been back-dating the cards, which is very frustrating (and improper under the rules). Take care, Jason
Jason, your analysis is based on the facts. I faced this too, even my siblings in my country were threatened too to pressurize me because I was involved in advocacy against my persecutors and my community’s persecutors here in the US. I had to stop writing blogs and visiting Capitol and meeting US officials because I was watched and pressurized to restrain from doing this. My asylum application is pending since 2014 and this continuous mental torture is killing me. I look very older than my age and I cannot control that.
I feel that this is a whole other category of persecutors harming their victims in the US – when family members are the persecutors. Probably I should have discussed it above, but it really deserves its own article, as it is a separate problem (though your issue seems to be political and family). It many cases, it is a law enforcement problem and the victim needs to contact the police and maybe a court to get a restraining order (a court order requiring someone to stay away from you). Hopefully, you can resolve the case and find some peace, and if people in the US are bothering you, you might consider getting help from the police. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason, do you think there is a chance to be interviewed soon for those who are waiting for more than 6 years, We are really tiered of waiting in limbo and besides my husband and I we both are working in a company and we are about to lose our jobs because of our status.
Hi @Nicki, sorry to hear about that, similar situation here. Do you have issues with your EAD ? the reason of losing the job ?
Hi SW, no the reason is we don’t have a green card and this job needs at least green card to be able to work.
I think it is unlikely unless you can expedite – I wrote about that on March 30, 2017 and March 23, 2022. I have been doing some lobbying on behalf of people with very old cases like yours, but whether that will result in any changes, I do not know. USCIS has made some noises about assigning asylum officers to old cases, but I have not seen any movement yet. Also, I am not sure why you would lose your jobs due to your status, but you are eligible to work with an EAD and it may be discriminatory to fire you (though maybe not – if, for example, your job requires international travel and you cannot do that, this may be a legitimate reason to terminate your employment, but you might talk to an employment lawyer about that to know for sure). Take care, Jason
Thank you Jason for your response, I don’t know if expedite works in such a case, the reason is not the travel it is more complicated, for such a job we have to be a US person.
Hi @Nicki, if you don’t mind me asking…
How did you get it in the first place…if they require it to be a us person ? or did they add this requirement after you got the job ?
Yes SW after working there for more than 6 years the company is sold and they are changing their policy.
This may violate employment laws and so you might want to talk to a lawyer who does such cases. Take care, Jason
Hello Jason and all,
I applied for GC based on asylum last month. The receipt has a priority date of Sept 2020. Do you know why there is a priority date? I didn’t know asylum cases have priority dates. Please note I have an EB2 NIW petition approved since 2020 but didn’t apply for GC based on it.
Can I ask a question ?
If you have EB2 NIW, why do you apply for asylum ?
I am not sure why it would say that – maybe double check the I-485 form to make sure you applied based on asylum and not based on the EB2. Otherwise, maybe that date is related to asylum. I never really paid attention to the date on the I-485 receipt, and as far as I remember, it should be the date you filed the I-485. Also, you are correct that asylum does not come with a “priority date” and so I do not know why that is there if the application is based on asylum. If the I-485 is filed based on asylum, I would just keep an eye on how the process goes to be sure that USCIS did not make a mistake somewhere. I guess you can also call them to ask (800-375-5283), but it is difficult to reach a person. Take care, Jason
Thanks Jason. The notice form showe filed based on the asylum status.
I applied fot asylum 6 years before getting NIW approved. NIW was another petition I filed as I had no hope to ever get a response for my asylum case.
Thanks.
Ok, hopefully, all is well with that. I would just keep an eye on it to see what other notices you receive. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason,
I went for second interview (my last one was 5 years ago), how long does the decisions take these days from the Arlington office?
Thanks
We are on the same boat. I also went for mine yesterday after waiting for a decision for about 6 years. I don’t know how much longer I will have to be in this rollercoaster. Good luck and please keep us posted on the outcome
I wish you good luck and get asylee status soon. Can you please share did you make inquiry or smth else to trigger second interview? FOIA request?
Hi! I haven’t heard back on the decision wondering if you heard back?
Thanks
Unfortunately, it is totally unpredictable. If they recently gave you a second interview, hopefully you will get a decision soon, as that can happen. It is also possible you will face more delay, but I do think a second interview is a positive sign in terms of receiving a decision. Take care, Jason
I wish you good luck and get asylee status soon. Can you please share did you make inquiry or smth else to trigger second interview? FOIA request?
Hi Jason. My a friend applied for Asylum some months ago. Now he is confused that when he applly i765 for EAD. After 150 days? After 180 days? After 360 days? filing Asylum Application.
Normally, you can file the I-765 form 150 days after the asylum case was received. The exception would be if the person missed or delayed an appointment (biometric appointment or interview). Otherwise, the person should be eligible 150 days after the date on the asylum receipt. Take care, Jason
Hello Jason
I had an asylum case but it was dismissed after filing AOS based on marriage to a USC. I haven’t received marriage based EAD. Dose continue to work using the asylum based EAD(not expired/ no revoking letter) considered unauthorized work? If yes, Can I update my answer to unauthorized work on AOS form to be Yes during the interview? Would this cause any troubles or delays?
Thank you
It probably is unauthorized work, since the EAD was only valid while the asylum case was pending. You can inform USCIS about this at the interview; that should be fine. In general, unauthorized employment does not negatively affect a GC application based on marriage to a US citizen. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason,
I went for a second interview after many many years of waiting for the decision. Surprisingly , the IO asked me no questions. He only took my wife’s fingerprints and asked her and my kids security questions then checked my expired passport. Have you ever experienced this? What could this mean though we cannot guess at this point? Have you ever had a client who experienced such a thing?
Hopefully it is a sign that you will get the decision soon. I do not recall if that ever happened to a client of mine exactly in this way, but it probably just meant they needed the additional info. The fact that they took some action now is (hopefully) a positive sign. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason
I Came to this country back in 2017 but waited almost 5 years finally my asylum case was approved in 2022 after tons of letters thousands of calls SFO asylum office. I applied I 730 for family and since then I am trying to expedite that petition . It is currently pending and when I reach out to USCIS customer services centre they tell me that they cannot view my case as I had a U-visa petition concurrently running with asylum but was not approved. Now Service center has literally no control of my petition and they refer me to Vermont service center . Do you think that this is even possible. To my surprise when I requested FOiA it came back empty and said there was no record. I don’t know what’s going on with USCIS. Please help of this is normal?? And what should I do? I already requested to roll back my U-visa and haven’t heard from them yet and anyone can help with this what is correct address of uscis Vermont service center if there any address changed no response yet since March 2022. Much appreciated for your help & kind information much appreciated!
With profound regards
FK
I do not know what an I-730 petition would have to do with the U visa. If you got the receipts, the I-730 petitions should be pending. They are not fast, but if you have the receipt numbers, you can call USCIS to try to expedite. I wrote about expediting in general on January 29, 2020. Also, there is a link under Resources called I-730 Family Reunification Manual that might help. In terms of the other issues, they are not normal, and I am not sure what the issue is. Maybe you want a lawyer to take a look at this and see whether they can figure it out. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason
I am an asylee and I want it to know how do I submit my expedite request to USCIS?
Thanks!
I wrote about that on January 29, 2020 – maybe that would help. Take care, Jason
Finally I got Asylum Based Green Card. Thank you Jason:
Hi. I am reader of this group since last 6 years. I got a lot of information by this. Also by Questioning to Jason.I am really Thank full to him for his great help. Really Jason is our Hero. My Time line is under:
– Applied for Asylum Feb 2015
– Granted Asylum June 2018.
– Applied i485 Application August 2019.
– Fingure Prints Feb 2020.
– Case Transferred TSC to NBC Dec 2021.
– RFE recieved for Mediucal May 2022
– Medical Sent to uscis May 2022
– Card produced 06/8/2022.
– Card received by my Lawer 06/15/2022.
Congratulations! And thank you for sharing this info. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason,
I am a petitioner, USA Citizen, petitioning immediate relative,
If my income is enough and exceeded the I-864P, 2022 HHS poverty guideline for affidavit of support for the most three recent years of my tax return. Am i required to fill out the asset section in the Form I-864?
Am I required to include my home loan as an asset in the Form I-864 since my income is enough.
Thank you.
Unless you are active duty military, you have to show current income about 125% of the poverty level (listed on the I-864P). For people who have sufficient income, we do not include info about assets (or loans) and that has never been a problem for us. Take care, Jason
Dear Jason
Today i had my interview with Arlington OFFICE in Virginia, im one of the evacuee from Afghanistan.
At the end of interview i was given and paper stating to come back to pick up my decision!! What do you interpret these soon pick up notice? Is it a referral to court or grant asylum based off of your experience
Appreciate your thoughts about it!
People says usually fast pick up notice is refferal to court
I have my first Afghan evacuee interview tomorrow, so I will be curious to see if that person also receives a pick-up notice. Since Covid began, the asylum office has issued all decisions by mail and stopped having people return in person to get the decision. I know they are trying (and not always succeeding) to give Afghan evacuees fast interviews, and so the pick-up notice may be part of that process, or maybe since the Covid situation has improved, they will generally be re-starting the process of in-person decisions. In terms of a grant or denial, a pick-up notice has no meaning and it is completely false that a pick-up means a referral to court. We have not had any Afghan denials since August 2021 (and had very few before that time), and so I think you should be hopeful for a positive outcome. Also, you should know that pre-Covid, when pick-ups were common, it was also common for the asylum office to contact the person and inform them that the decision was not ready and that it would be mailed out. Hopefully, you will get a positive decision soon, but it is also possible that the decision will be delayed, as this is very common, especially for people from Muslim countries, which seem to have a longer security background check process. Take care, Jason
Dear Jason, thank you for all you do. I have a question about initial EADs. In your experience, since the Asylumworks’ case was decided in February, how long does it actually take the USCIS in practice to approve application for initial employment authorization? I ask because even though I applied as an ASAP member, my application has been pending for almost 2 months and all the Rosario enquiries set out on the USCIS website have not helped at all as USCIS’ response is that the application is on the queue awaiting assignment.
USCIS is a disaster zone and nothing works as it should. It is supposed to take 30 days or less, but I think most cases take longer. I make my associate do most of the EAD cases and so I do not remember the time frame for initial EADs, but I think it is 2 or 3 months or even longer for many people (renewals take much, much longer, but you get the 540-day extension). Take care, Jason
Good piece as always.
I am glad that this issue has finally been touched. I have been saying this for the whole time: A foreign adversary sending its agents to infiltrate, to spy on U.S. residents.
From an individual level, is there anything a real asylum seeker can do about this ?
Also, do you think the solution lies in the visa application process (e.g. they should have detected this and not issue the visa) or after these agents enter the U.S. ?
Besides being careful, I am not sure what an individual asylum seeker can do. It does seem that severe harm is very rare, so maybe that is somewhat comforting. I do think the US government would try to prevent known bad actors from coming here, but that is not easy, especially when the bad guys come here as diplomats. Take care, Jason
Okay, thanks
Sadly, I somehow feel like this is modern day appeasement…look how that got us into the Ukraine/Russia war…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeasement
Hi Jason ,
Trust you are doing well , I wrote about my issue before but I am having issues which are not resolved yet.
I moved to connecticut from maryland and the dmv here needs my un-expired passport as a primary document and EAD as a second document to transfer the license. This is my 3rd visit to them and I explained my situation that I am a peding asylum applicant and its difficult for me to renew my passport and its complications , after checking everything they couldnt do anything after all the visits and discussions and diligence its the connecticut law.
the other option is to get the drive only license and even for that they need passport expired for no more then 3 years
OR
consular document from country of citizenship.
I am confused and stuck and do not know what to do in this situation , there is no other way with the DMV in connecticut their laws are like this.
Can you please advise on something that can be done.
Thanks
Amir
Hello,
The DMV is right that they need 1 document from primary document list which is passport but as your passport is expired you can use Legal presence which is listed in dmv checklist item 4. Under item 4 your EAD card can be used for your name and date of birth, A Number and they still need to call legal presence team Connecticut. (Legal status will be verified using Systematic Alien Verification of Eligibility (SAVE) ) You can also call yourself and once they will check your legal presence (which will be the expiry date of your EAD) they normally update in the system at the same time. I assume that you have all secondary documents like paystub, local address and utility bill. Once you complete call with legal presence team done, DMV will issue a license for limited term as per the expiry date of your EAD card.
Thanks
Kool
Hi KOOL,
Thank you for your responce Its helpful, I checked the list again as per your listed suggestion but if you see they have categorically mentioned that they need passport with supporting documents(including legal verification from SAVE)
-Foreign Passport w/ supporting documents (See Legal Presence noted below)*
If it can be done as you said with the expired passport, I can make an appointment again and visit them with the printed material on their website.
Thank you!!!
amir
Good day to everyone. I would like to give a shout out to Mr Jason for his good job.
I apply for asylum in November 2017, Newark, NJ.
Interview was on October 2018
We got approved on October 2018
Apply for green card on October 2019
Got approved on June 2022.
Thank You Jason for everything you’re doing for us. May God keeps on blessing you.
Congratulations and thank you for sharing the time line. Take care, Jason
Very impressive – Thank you, Jason
I really do not know. It is quite shocking that an asylum seeker would be asked for a passport. Maybe try to contact your Congressperson or Senator, or even a state representative. It seems very unfair. I suppose you could try to renew the passport, if the embassy will issue it. It could have negative implications for your asylum case, but as long as you can explain why you got the passport and why the embassy was willing to issue it, it probably will not affect the case. Of course, if they will not issue you a passport, you are stuck. I would start with the representatives to see if they can help. You might also reach out to some local non-profits – if this is an issue for you, it is probably an issue for others and maybe some non-profits are working on the problem. Maybe ACLU or Catholic Charities are places to start. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason ,
I called my state representative and explained them my situation altoghether in thorought detail and how this local law only in connecticut DMV is impacting me and I never faced this issue in other state.
The state representative office mentioned that let us make some calls and inquiries , they took my complete details and details of my status. I will wait for thier response if it doesnt work I will pursue this matter with Congressperson or Senator.
Thank You
Amir
Hopefully it will work – it seems to me very wrong if an asylum seeker needs a valid passport to get a license. Take care, Jason