Asylum Office Red Flags: Insight from a Former Asylum Officer

by Jason Dzubow

This article is by Allen Schwartz, a former Asylum Officer who now offers consulting services to asylum seekers and attorneys. He may be reached at allen.schwartz@visaconsults.com or (305) 528-6474. Learn more about him at his website, www.visaconsults.com.

One year ago, I contributed to The Asylumist by submitting a post entitled Reflections and Advice from a Recently-Retired Asylum Officer. Now, as the number of affirmative asylum interviews continue to increase at Asylum Offices across the country, I would like to highlight some red flags that could occur during these interviews. A good number of these red flags may be due to Asylum Officer (“AO”) burnout and/or lack of sufficient training/experience. (more…)

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The Message Behind Red State Governors’ Migrant Transports

by Jason Dzubow

The governors of Texas, Arizona, and Florida have been transporting asylum seekers from the border to “sanctuary” jurisdictions, such as Washington, DC, New York City, Chicago, and Martha’s Vineyard. Many of these migrants have suffered persecution in their home countries and have undergone difficult and dangerous journeys to reach the United States. The governors have enticed them to travel from the border to other parts of the country by falsely promising them jobs, work permits, and other benefits. In most cases, the receiving localities have not been forewarned about the new arrivals, and so have had difficulty coordinating a humanitarian response.

Immigration advocates have referred to these transfers as a “cynical political game,” a “publicity stunt” and a “political ploy.” Others have called it an effort to “own the libs.” While I agree that lying to vulnerable people and manipulating them is cruel and immoral, I think we on the Left are not being honest or wise when we dismiss the migrant transports as mere political theater. The issues underlying the governors’ efforts are serious and we ignore those issues at our peril. (more…)

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President Biden Must Protect Russian Refugees

by Jason Dzubow

This article is by Stanislav Stanskikh, a Visiting Scholar at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Research Fellow at UNC-Chapel Hill, and founder of The New England Institute for Country Conditions Expertise. He may be reached here: stanskikh [at] countryconditions.expert

There is an ongoing debate about whether Russians fleeing political repressions and the military draft should be granted refuge in the United States and the West, or whether protection should be refused so that these potential refugees rebel against the Kremlin instead. Opponents also draw a line between “real” refugees and those who left Russia merely to save themselves despite their prior loyalty to the regime. While the Baltic countries and Poland are turning away new arrivals, Germany and some other EU members have extended their welcome by generously granting refugee status. The President of the European Council Charles Michel favors opening the EU to fleeing Russians.

What about the United States?

(more…)

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Pattern or Practice of Persecution

by Jason Dzubow

Recently, I have been presenting a new argument for my female asylum clients from Afghanistan–that if they return to their country, they face a “pattern or practice” of persecution. Under the Taliban government, women in Afghanistan cannot pursue an education or work in many professions, they cannot travel abroad or safely leave the house without a male companion, the government will not protect them from forced marriage or domestic abuse. For these reasons, the argument goes, any woman who lives in Afghanistan will suffer persecution. Ergo and ipso facto (to use some fancy lawyer language), every Afghan woman in the U.S. should qualify for asylum.

A similar argument could be made about asylum seekers from many different countries. Such a claim is particularly helpful where the applicant did not personally face any threats or harm, and so might otherwise have a weak case for protection under United States immigration law.

In this post, we will discuss the meaning of “pattern or practice” in the asylum context, who might benefit from this argument, and how to present such a claim. (more…)

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More Unsolicited Advice for the Asylum Office

by Jason Dzubow

Dear Asylum Office –

Did you ever have an annoying friend who keeps wanting to tell you what’s what? Who couldn’t accept that you’re not interested in his advice about how to improve your life? Who blathers on about this-and-that without noticing that you’ve nodded off? I get it. But here I am anyway. The fact is, my dear Asylum Office, you’re a mess and something needs to be done.

Please don’t misunderstand when I say that you’re a mess. I am speaking as a friend. Or maybe a frenemy. According to your own data, there are now (as of December 2021) more than 438,500 cases pending at our nation’s Asylum Offices. Many applicants have been waiting for years without an interview and with no real hope of receiving a decision any time soon. The good news is that you’ve hired 80 brand-spankin’ new officers to interview older (pre-2016) cases. But the concern is that these officers will not be used efficiently or fairly. Luckily, I am here to offer some unsolicited advice about maximizing efficiency and protecting due process of law. (more…)

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Help Is on the Way for Asylum Seekers in the Backlog + a Humble Request for the Asylum Office

by Jason Dzubow

It’s the rare occasion when I can report some good news, but it seems that USCIS is taking action to help people in the affirmative asylum backlog. According to the most recent data (from December 2021), there are about 438,500 cases pending at the Asylum Office. The large majority of these applicants have not yet received interviews. Now, USCIS has hired an additional 80 Asylum Officers who will be dedicated to interviewing applicants who filed for asylum on or before January 1, 2016, meaning that they will be interviewing asylum seekers who have been waiting the longest.

Here, we’ll discuss what this means for those applicants, and also for people who filed after January 1, 2016. I’ll also make some suggestions about how to schedule these interviews in a way that is fair to applicants and to their lawyers (i.e., I will beg USCIS to have mercy on us). (more…)

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Asylum Office Finally Releases New-ish Statistics

by Jason Dzubow

Back in 2019, the Trump Administration ended the long-standing practice of releasing data about our nation’s Asylum Offices. The Biden Administration has not seemed particularly eager to restore transparency, but now, a year and a half after President Biden took office, we finally have some new data from the Asylum Division. Mind you, the data is only current as of December 31, 2021, but we are told more information will be released soon. Since “soon” in asylum world tends to mean “not any time soon,” I’ve decided to write about the information we have now, rather than wait for a second data dump, which may or may not be released in the near future.

The new data gives us a lot to discuss and sheds some light on why cases are moving so slowly. It also raises questions about how the asylum system is working–or not working. (more…)

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Don’t Forget to Update Your I-589

by Jason Dzubow

It’s common these days to find asylum seekers at the Asylum Office and in Immigration Court who filed their asylum application, form I-589, five, six, seven or more years ago. During that time, some information on the form becomes out of date. Also, new events occur which need to be added to the form. What is the best and most efficient way to update your asylum application at the Asylum Office and in court? (more…)

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Second Interviews at the Asylum Office

by Jason Dzubow

Though I haven’t seen any data to back this up, it seems to me that second interviews at the Asylum Office are becoming more common. I’ve been hearing reports about second (or third) interviews from others and we are seeing it in our own practice as well. In this post, we will talk about the second interview: Why is it needed? What happens at a second interview? How should you prepare? (more…)

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Are Asylum Seekers in the United States Safe from Their Persecutors?

by Jason Dzubow

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. (more…)

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The Biden Administration Can “Fix” the Border–Even Without Congress

by Jason Dzubow

In a recent editorial, the Washington Post opined that Congress’s failure to pass immigration reform has led to the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. But even without Congress, the Biden Administration can use its regulatory power to better define the term “refugee” and thus better control who is eligible to enter the United States under our asylum law. (more…)

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Good News on Work Permits

by Jason Dzubow

A new rule in the federal register has temporarily increased the automatic extension period for Employment Authorization Documents (“EADs”) for asylum seekers and others from 180 days to 540 days. The 540-day extension applies to anyone with a pending EAD renewal, even those whose EAD and 180-day extension have already expired. This means that all asylum seekers with timely-filed renewals are able to work lawfully for 540 days beyond the expiration date on their current EAD card.

Starting on May 4, 2022, EAD receipts for certain categories–including c-8, asylum pending–will list the 540-day extension on the receipt itself. USCIS has also updated its website to reflect that EAD receipts listing the 180-day extension have been extended by an additional 360 days, to 540 days total. USCIS will not be sending out new receipts, and so if you need proof of the automatic extension for your employer or the DMV, you can show them this web page. In order to qualify for the automatic extension, you must file to renew your current EAD before it expires.                       (more…)

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AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!

by Jason Dzubow

Let me tell you about some recent events in my office.

We had two cases set for individual hearings this week. Both cases involve noncitizens who have been waiting years for their decisions, both have family members abroad who they hope to bring to the U.S. if their claims are successful, and both have strong cases for asylum.

For the first case, we prepared and submitted evidence earlier in the pandemic, but the case was postponed at the last minute due to Covid. We were hoping that the new date would stick, given that restrictions are easing and the court now has a system to do cases remotely (called Webex). As the date approached, we filed additional evidence and scheduled two practice sessions for the client. We also regularly checked the Immigration Court online portal, which lists our court dates, to be sure the case was still on the docket. (more…)

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Failures and Solutions at the Asylum Office

by Jason Dzubow

A new report, Lives in Limbo: How the Boston Asylum Office Fails Asylum Seekers, raises concerns about the Boston Asylum Office and about the affirmative asylum system in general. Here, we’ll discuss some of the report’s findings and some suggested improvements to the system. I want to focus on one particular suggestion in the report, which has been on my mind lately: Whether asylum applications can be approved largely “on the papers,” with only a brief interview. But first, let’s take a look at the report’s main points. (more…)

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Affirmative Asylum Updates: Winners and Losers

by Jason Dzubow

If you are a regular or even occasional reader of this humble blog, you know my opinion of the affirmative asylum system–it is a disaster. There are currently more than 435,000 pending cases, representing upwards of 800,000 people. Some applicants have been waiting for their interviews for five, six, seven or more years, separated from spouses and children and living in existential uncertainty. Now, it seems that we are on the verge of a perfect storm, which will throw tens of thousands of new cases into the system at the same time as resources will be diverted away from affirmative cases. These changes will result in some winners and some losers. Here, we’ll discuss these new developments and how they might affect the asylum process. (more…)

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