As the situation for immigrants continues to deteriorate, it is important to be prepared in the event that you are detained or deported. What do you do about your children and other vulnerable family members? What about pets? Property? Vehicles? Bank accounts?
While it is important to remain hopeful, even in difficult times, it is also important to have a safety plan so you are ready in the event of an immigration emergency.
Before we discuss how to prepare for the worst, I think it is important to keep things in perspective. Recently, the Trump Administration has increased the number of ICE arrests to about 50,000 non-citizens per month. Whether ICE can sustain this high level of arrests, we do not know, but assuming they can, that would amount to 600,000 people detained per year. Given that there are over 15 million people unlawfully present in the U.S., the odds of being detained in any given year are only about 4%. That is not an insignificant number (if you tell me that my plane has a 4% chance of crashing, I will be taking the bus, thank you very much), but the likelihood of being detained is still pretty low.
While non-citizens should not panic about the current crackdown, it is very important to be prepared in case something happens. So what can you do to be ready in the event of an immigration emergency?
First, have a family safety plan. This document will allow a friend or family member to more easily help you and your family if you are detained. It should list who to contact in case of an emergency, and what steps need to be taken immediately to protect your family members, pets, and property. It should include your immigration information and instructions about where to find important documents, contact information for your attorney (if any), medical information for you and your family members, etc. It’s not difficult to complete a safety plan, and having a plan in place will be very helpful in the event that you are detained.
For people with minor children (whether U.S. citizen or non-citizen children), it is crucial to identify a trusted family member or friend who can take over if the usual care-givers are detained, and to create a Custodial Power of Attorney (CPOA) for that person. The CPOA is a document that gives the custodian temporary authority to make decisions for your child, including decisions related to school, medical care, and travel. In some states, it is possible to create a CPOA simply by signing the relevant documents; other states required the CPOA to be notarized, and in still other states, the document must be approved by a court. In other words, in some states, it is easy to prepare a CPOA, while in other states, it may take some effort or require the help of a lawyer. However, for parents at risk of detention or removal, having this document prepared in advance can protect your children from being placed into state custody.
If you have property, vehicles or a bank account, and you are concerned about what might happen if you get detained or deported, you can create a Financial Power of Attorney (FPOA). This is an agreement between you and a trusted friend or family member, which allows that person to sell your house or car, make mortgage payments, and/or access your bank accounts. Basically, it is a way to protect your assets. The agreement can be created for some or all of your assets, and you can control when it ends. If you own a home, an alternative to an FPOA is to transfer the deed to someone else. Whether that makes sense probably depends on your relationship to the person (for example, it may make sense to transfer ownership of your property to a spouse or an adult child); talk to a real estate lawyer about the positives and negatives of this option. If you plan to create an FPOA for a bank account, talk to the bank about any requirements that they may have in additional to the FPOA.
For most non-citizens, the likelihood of being detained is relatively low, but the sad fact is, these days, everyone who is not yet a U.S. citizen faces some risk. The good news is that there are some relatively easy steps you can take to prepare and to protect yourself and your family. Creating a Safety Plan and the appropriate powers of attorney will help you and your loved ones be ready in case of an immigration emergency.
Hi Jason,
With the new July 2026 rule allowing USCIS in some cases to refer affirmative asylum cases to immigration court without an interview, how does this affect very old pending cases that were filed years ago but never received an interview?
For example, if someone filed asylum in 2017, has been waiting for about 9 years, and their original I-589 only checked PSG and CAT without a detailed personal statement or evidence, could USCIS refer the case to immigration court without an interview?
Also, if there is no strong past-persecution claim but circumstances developed after coming to the U.S. that create a fear of future persecution, can those circumstances potentially support an asylum or CAT claim?
Finally, how does the current third-country removal policy affect someone with a long-pending affirmative asylum case?
Thank you.
The new rule does apply to old cases and if the case you filed does not include info about why you need asylum, it could be denied as incomplete. I wrote about this on July 29, 2026 and how to update your pending I-589. You do not necessarily need to submit the personal statement, but you do need to check all the appropriate boxes on page 5 of the I-589 and make sure you provide a statement explaining why you need asylum. If you did that, you should be ok, but if not, you should try to supplement your application as soon as possible. If you have a new fear of future persecution that has occurred after you filed your asylum application, you should submit an update about that as soon as possible. The problem is that you are supposed to submit a new claim within a “reasonable” period of time of when the new event occurred. Ideally, you would submit the new information within a month or two of the new development, but the sooner you submit it, the better. If you think your asylum application is not complete or if you have a new claim and are not sure how to proceed, it is worth discussing your situation with a lawyer. In terms of third country deportations, those apply only to people who arrived in the US after November 18, 2019, so it should not apply to you. Also, those rules only apply to people who are in immigration court. Take care, Jason
hi jasson
i missed my biometric appointment this week and looking for reschedule my appointment. My lawyer call USCIS for appointment and they said they send an email for the schedule.
Do you know how the rescheduling goes with USCIS? because my lawyer told me that he has requested and i shall receive the email soon. Do you think they will send email for schedule?
Also what happens now that i have missed appointment? will there be any penalty? is there any danger here in this case? My asylum was approved like six months ago so i did apply for the green card this month. please let me know how is the process for rescheduling? thank you.
I do not know that there is any danger, but I suppose it is not impossible that USCIS will deny the application, as they sometimes act cruelty and arbitrarily. While I guess that is possible, if your lawyer called and was told that the appointment will be rescheduled, that is probably what will happen and so you should be fine. I would expect that they will send the new appointment notice by mail and maybe by email if that is what they said. If there is nothing by Friday, you may want to try calling again. Maybe your lawyer knows the time frame, but I am not sure, and if it is supposed to be an email, that should be pretty quick. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason, for the interview, do you recommend printing everything I already submitted online and bringing them to the interview? I submitted some new articles as quoted paragraphs. Do you think I should print the whole articles and bring them to the interview?
If you filed online and submitted the articles online (through the USCIS portal), you should be ok. I think it does not hurt to bring a hard copy of your documents, so you have it in case the officer needs it. They should not, but you never know, as they are very good at losing things (if you submitted documents by mail, you should bring a copy of everything, as they often lose documents submitted by mail). Take care, Jason
In the case of quoting a part of a report, which also includes other unrelated countries’ situations, do you think I should print everything or just printing only the relevant parts is enough? Thank you very much for answering my questions, Jason.
I would probably only print the relevant part, unless the report is fairly short. You also need to print the beginning of the report with the cover page, date, and any other info that is relevant to each individual country report. Also, make sure it is clear that you have only included the relevant parts and provide a link to the full document. I suppose it is possible that some judges will exclude a partial report and so if this is for immigration court, you may want to ask around about the judge’s practice. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason. If I submitted a full case via FedEx (not online) with all the evidence, affidavits, country condition reports, etc. along with the completed I-589 and declaration, but, unfortunately, failed to save a copy for myself, is it going to be a problem at the interview? I can try to recreate what was submitted, but it’s been five years since I did that. So, my question is if I bring a case to the interview that won’t 100% match what USCIS may have (would lack some submitted evidence and have some new evidence), is it going to be a problem? Is it going to be allowed?
If you submitted everything with the form, they should have it. They often lose documents that are submitted by mail prior to the interview, but it is rare that they lose documents submitted with the I-589. I think it would be risky to try to re-create what you submitted five years ago, as there could easily be small inconsistencies that the asylum officer uses to find you not credible. It is important that everything is consistent as possible, including your testimony at the interview. I recommend that you file a Freedom of Information Act request to get a copy of the file. There is a link under Resources called FOIA USCIS where you can do that. You may not get everything (since they often redact parts of the file), but you should get most of what you need. Take care, Jason
Hello Jason,
My wife filed her asylum application with USCIS within one year of our last arrival in the United States, and I was included as a derivative applicant on her application.
Her case has now been referred to immigration court. As I recall, you previously mentioned that, in this situation, each spouse can file their own asylum application in immigration court.
When I am filling out my Form I-589, I assume I should check “Yes” for the question regarding whether the application is being filed more than one year after the applicant’s last arrival in the United States. However, what should I include as an explanation to establish that the one-year filing deadline should not apply to me, given that I was previously included as a derivative on my wife’s timely filed asylum application? Thank you.
You should try to get a lawyer for the court case, as there may be more than one explanation about the late filing (and there may be other issues that need to be developed). But certainly one explanation is that you were a dependent on your wife’s case, and that should qualify you for an exception to the one-year filing rule. Take care, Jason
This letter is in response to your request for records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or
Privacy Act (PA), which was received in this office on August 26, 2026.
We have considered the foreseeable harm standard when reviewing the record set and have applied the
FOIA exemptions as required by the statute and the Attorney General’s guidance. We have completed the
review of all documents and have identified 151 pages that are responsive to your request. Enclosed are
83 pages released in their entirety and 9 pages released in part. We are withholding 59 pages in full. In
our review of these pages, we have determined they contain no reasonably segregable portion(s) of non
exempt information. We have reviewed and have determined to release all information except those
portions that are exempt pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552 (b)(6), (b)(7)(C), (b)(7)(E), and (b)(7)(F) of the
FOIA.
The following exemptions are applicable:
Exemption (b)(7)(C) provides protection for personal information in law enforcement records, which
could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. We have
withheld information relating to third-party individuals. The types of documents and/or information that
we have withheld could consist of names, addresses, identification numbers, telephone numbers, fax
numbers, or various other documents that are considered personal.
Exemption (b)(7)(F) permits the government to withhold all information about any individual when
disclosure of information about him or her could reasonably be expected to endanger his or her’s life or
physical safety. The types of documents and/or information that we have withheld could consist of
names, addresses, telephone numbers, source provided information, such as testimony, statements,
reports, investigations, audio/video tapes, or various other documents or information withheld as to not
endanger the life or physical safety of an individual.
Exemption (b)(6) permits the government to withhold all information about individuals in personnel,
medical and similar files where the disclosure of such information would constitute a clearly unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy. The types of documents and/or information that we have withheld may
consist of birth certificates, naturalization certificates, drivers’ licenses, social security numbers, home
addresses, dates of birth, or various other documents and/or information belonging to a third party that are
considered personal.
Exemption (b)(7)(E) of the FOIA provides protection for records or information for law enforcement
purposes which would disclose techniques and procedures for law enforcement investigations or
prosecutions, or would disclose guidelines for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions if such
disclosure could reasonably be expected to risk circumvention of the law. The types of documents and/or
information we have withheld could consist of law enforcement systems checks, manuals, checkpoint
locations, surveillance techniques, and various other documents.
They also said even though we followed what you told us Jason that we leave and withdraw the case, they have termed it as ”abandoned”.
We did not abandon it, we had an interview coming up on 27 March and we left the country on 8 and told them about the case to be closed 2 weeks before the next interview.
I want to know please.
1. If this going to go against us?
2. Can we apply for a visitor visa in the future lets 2-3 years from now.
3. Also FOIA came with some pages being hidden is this a good thing or a bad thing because they said they are hiding it because of the privacy law protection?
4. If we apply for the visit visa in a year or two once we have a business set up what are our chances of getting up?
5. On the FOIA if there a mistake that we abandon the case and we really did not do it, then what do you think from all that you help us with can we contact them and change it.
Over all we wanted to keep it clean for our us for the future. Please let me know.
I appreciate you so much Jason thank you for being there.
4.
1 – This seems to be a FOIA request response, and I am not sure whether there is anything substantive here. It sounds like they did send you some documents, but I do not know what those are. 2 – Yes, but whether you would get a visa, I do not know. Anyone who has applied for asylum, even if they withdrew the case, will likely have a difficult time getting a visa such as a B or F visa, as they will normally not issue those to people who they think may overstay the visa. or H1b or L visas, it may be easier. 3 – USCIS is often redacting pages. They do this more now than in the past. I do not know whether it is bad, but it gives you less information about your case. You can try to appeal the decision to get more of the missing pages. 4 – I do not know; it depends on your circumstances and the type of visa. 5 – If your case was not referred to court and you do not get a deportation order, you should be ok. You can check if you follow the link under Resources called EOIR case status and enter your Alien number and country. If you have a court case, you should talk to a lawyer to see if they can help you avoid a deportation order (if you fail to appear in court, the judge will order you deported). If there is no case in the system, that would indicate that the asylum application was successfully withdrawn and closed, and in that case, you should not have a court order. This will make it easier to return than if you get a deportation order. Take care, Jason
Thank you Jason, but we did exactly what was right and they still used the word abandoned, in the future is it going to hurt us ?
Previously you mentioned if we go out this from US we will be able to come back getting a B1B2. Do you think new administration will be more helpful to immigrants? and will that be the case it will be easier for us to come to US any day if needed to?
I just want to say thank you so much for responding to us. I read every article of yours for the past 12 year and i feel it is a connection we have as immigrants with you. thank you again. America is going through a very sad reality. we hope all this comes to an end soon.
Whether they used the word abandoned or withdrawn, I do not think it matters. What matters is whether the case was referred to court and whether you received a removal (deportation) order. If not, that will make it easier to get a visa in the future. Whether a new administration will be better for non-citizens, I do not know, but I do think the general public is getting tired of all the anti-immigration stuff, so probably things will improve a bit at some point. I do agree that America is going through a bad time. Sadly, this is really a self-inflicted wound. Other countries could not attack us, and so we have decided to harm ourselves. I do not feel particularly optimistic for our situation in the near term, but over time, we may start moving out of our current situation. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason
I really appreciate your valuable information always for the immigrants people.
Thank you, Jason
Hi Jason, I applied for adjustment of status and noticed that my biometric notice says “Code 5” while some of my friends who are in the same situation received a notice saying “code 3.” Do you know if there’s any particular meaning or significance to those numbers?
I have not noticed that on the biometric letters and so I am not sure, sorry. USCIS uses different codes (for example on the work permit, depending on the category of application) and so maybe it relates to whether the person is a principal or dependent applicant, or the basis of the application (for example, if you applied based on asylum and your friend applied based on marriage). These are just guesses, though and I am not sure. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason, in the case of not completely being able to submit all the evidence on the 14th day away from the interview, what option should I choose: just go with what already submitted or submit more evidence after the deadline? Will submitting extra documents after the deadline jeopardize my entire application? Should I risk the extra document submission? Thank you very much
I would definitely submit as much as possible prior to the deadline. If you have additional evidence after that, just submit it as soon as possible. The asylum office may not accept it, but they might (they might not even know whether it was submitted late). If you are submitting evidence online, this is easier, and you can just upload evidence as you get it, but if you are submitting by paper, I would submit whatever you have prior to the deadline and then make one late submission once you have the remaining evidence (in other words, if you are filing by paper, it is not a great idea to make multiple submissions). Take care, Jason
Hi Jason
This is your client Wu, I have sent an email and the automatic reply has been received and said you are no longer with Murray Osorio, I am surprise that because I need your help. I was been a client because of you. I still need your help and i need your response as soon as you can.
thank you so much
Wu
I have left Murray Osorio and am no longer representing private clients as I do not have the capacity to do that any longer. Murray Osorio should have notified everyone about that, and so I apologize if you did not receive a notice, but it may be that another lawyer was on your case since you hired the firm, and they did not realize I had done an initial consultation with you. MO should be assisting with your case and they have your file, so I would not be able to assist. If you need to reach me about something specific, you can email me at Jason@Asylumist.com. Take care, Jason
Hi Jason!
I recently noticed that the status of my affirmative case with USCIS changed from awaiting interview to “The next step in your application is adjudication. If we schedule you for an interview, you will receive an interview notice.” What could it mean? Do I need to start panicking? My case was sent on paper. We didn’t send any evidence, just a brief explanation in the form.
I do not think the message is specific to your case, as USCIS keeps changing the online messages, and others have seen this same message as well. However, I do think you need to be careful about having the case dismissed as “incomplete.” What was considered complete and fine in the past is not always complete now, and this is one of the sneaky ways USCIS is trying to deny cases. I wrote about this on July 29, 2026 and maybe that article would give you some ideas, as I discuss what you can try to do to protect yourself. Take care, Jason
This is very important article and have been waiting .
1. Does making spouse a beneficiary in bank accounts, 401k etc guarantee or FPOA is must to have.
2. Is this also apply if one is US citizen spouse.
I am not an expert in this, and I am not sure what you mean by making your spouse a “beneficiary” of your bank account. If the bank account is in both your names, then your spouse should be able to access the account, even if something happens to you. However, if you only want to give your spouse access to your account if you are detained or deported, then I think you would want an FPOA, but you would also need to talk to the bank, as they may have their own system and if you prepare this in advance, it will obviously be easier than if you have to do it after you are detained. The FPOA would be for anyone, whether they are a US citizen or have some other status (or no status). Take care, Jason
Dear Jason,
First, I would like to thank you for what you are doing for the asylum society, you did and are doing a great job.
I need your piece of advise in my situation: I have been granted asylum by the immigration court 05/19/2025, I applied for green card and did the biometric on 01/30/2026, my online case status says that on 07/15/2026 my fingerprints related to my green card were applied to my case!! why after six months??
Secondly, I have a wife and four kids, they applied for asylum on 2022, todays’ case status says that “The next step in your application is adjudication. If we schedule you for an interview, you will receive an interview notice.”
what do you think I should do right now? I applied a form of I-730 for each one of my family and the case status for each is: “As of September 10, 2025, USCIS is currently processing your Form I-730, Refugee/Asylee Relative Petition”
I know it’s a little bit confusing and stressing during these days, I appreciate whatever input you have in my situation,
Thank you again
I do not think there is a concern about your green card. It sounds like it is pending. I do not know why you received the message on July 15, but I do not think it indicates a problem, and I would not worry about it. The process to get a GC based on asylum is very slow, and so it seems to me that you are still within the “normal” wait times. It sounds like your wife and children have 2 cases – their asylum case and I-730 cases that you filed for them. I think there is not much to do for them. Hopefully, the I-730 forms will be processed before own asylum case, and they can get asylum as your dependents. If that happens, they can then withdraw their own asylum case. It is also possible that they will get their asylum interview before the I-730 forms are processed, and in that case, they will have to try to win asylum. If they lose, they will be referred to Immigration Court, but they can still continue the I-730 process. If they have any reason to expedite the I-730 forms, you can try that. It is not easy, but they can try. I wrote about expediting in general with USCIS on January 29, 2020 and maybe that article would give you some ideas. Take care, Jason