Legal Relief

# Asylees and Refugees# Asylum# International

The Administration’s Attack on I-730 Petitions

A few months ago, the Trump Administration instituted two travel bans, blocking nationals of 39 countries from coming to the United States. The bans explicitly stated that they would not apply to “an individual who has been granted asylum by the United States.” Commentators generally agreed (hoped?) that the bans would not apply to asylee or refugee “follow to join” dependents, since they were either coming to the U.S. in the same status as the principal applicant, or–if they were already in the United States–were obtaining asylum through USCIS.

Unfortunately, recent developments have proved said commentators wrong. The Administration has been preventing asylee and refugee dependents from banned countries from coming to the U.S. or obtaining status here.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum# Asylum Seekers

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

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. 

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum Seekers# Immigration Court# Legal Relief

Asylum Cooperative Agreements and the Fiction of the Safe Third Country

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.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Immigration Court# Legal Relief

Fight or Flight?

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.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum# Asylum Seekers# National Security

The Travel Ban Comes Home

Last summer, the Trump Administration implemented a travel ban to block or restrict nationals from certain countries from entering the United States. The ban was justified based on “national security” or because the targeted countries had higher-than-average visa overstay rates.

Now, according to a report from the New York Times and my conversations with Asylum Officers, it seems that people from banned countries who are already in the U.S. will face additional restrictions on receiving asylum and obtaining a Green Card.  

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum# Asylum Seekers

The Asylum Trap: Could Your Case Be Dismissed for Failure to Pay the $100 Annual Fee?

The Roman Emperor Caligula had a habit of frequently changing statutes and penalties during his reign. When people complained that they needed to know the law in order to avoid the punishments, Caligula posted his rules high up on a pillar, so no one could read them. That way, the law remained unknowable and the Emperor could continue to do as he pleased. This is basically the state of immigration law in the United States today.

The government’s most recent machination is the $100 annual fee for asylum. The One Big Beautiful Bill created this new fee, but as of now, there is no mechanism for most applicants to pay. So what happens with your case if you can’t make the payment? Will it be dismissed? If you have an asylum application pending at the Asylum Office, the Immigration Court or the Board of Immigration Appeals, what should you do to protect yourself?

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# CAT# Withholding

Can You Be Deported to a Third Country If You Have Withholding of Removal?

The Trump Administration has started sending some migrants to third countries. There is little transparency around these operations, but so far, the deportees seem to be people who arrived recently at the Southern border. Regardless of their nationality or potential fear of persecution, the U.S. government is sending some migrants to third countries, such as Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama. In most cases, the returned migrants are then sent back to their home country, but in some cases, the third countries seem willing to hold (and perhaps detain) deported migrants, at least for a while. 

Could the Administration apply this same strategy to people who have been granted Withholding of Removal (WOR) or protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) ?

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum# Asylum Seekers# Immigration

The Trump Administration’s Opening Salvos

For two-and-a-half months since the election and for what seems like years before that, we’ve been hearing from Donald Trump and his surrogates about how they would deport millions of people, block refugees, end birth-right citizenship, and implement a campaign of “shock and awe” against those in our country illegally. Earlier this week, Mr. Trump was finally sworn in, and his specific agenda is starting to take shape. In some ways, it is easier to deal with his actual policies than to wonder and worry about what he might do. Here, we’ll discuss some of the President’s initial executive orders and how they might affect asylum seekers and other non-citizens in the US of A.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow
# Asylum# Asylum Seekers

No CBP One = No Asylum?

In January 2023, Customs and Border Protection launched a new iteration of its CBP One app. When it functions, the app allows migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border to make an appointment to present an initial request for asylum in the United States. The app has been plagued with technical problems, and many migrants simply did not have the equipment, language skills or know-how to use it properly. Nevertheless, starting on May 11, 2023, any migrant who arrives at the border and does not use the app may be barred from asylum in the United States. There are exceptions to the rule and the legality of excluding asylum seekers who do not utilize CBP One has been challenged in court. 

Today, we’ll talk about CBP One and what can be done to overcome the asylum bar for people who failed to make an appointment using the app.

Read more

By Jason Dzubow