Asylum and Its Discontents in the United States
Donald Trump will take the oath of office on January 20, 2025. Once he assumes power, he has promised wide-ranging changes to our country’s immigration system. These include mass detention and deportation, a return to the “Remain in Mexico” policy, ending parole programs and Temporary Protected Status, and a renewed travel ban (a/k/a the “Muslim ban”).
In the weeks before Mr. Trump takes charge, what should asylum seekers and immigrants be doing to get ready?
I originally began the Asylumist for several reasons: I wanted to diversify and grow my law practice; I needed an outlet to complain about the asylum system (we lawyers love to complain), and I hoped the blog would serve as a forum to discuss asylum and related issues. After 8+ years, it’s time to take stock. When I started the Asylumist in … Read more
This is part 2 of a posting about what happens if the Asylum Office denies your affirmative application. Read part 1 here. If the Asylum Office denies your asylum case and you are no longer “in status,” you will be referred to an Immigration Court. When you get the denial (which they politely call a … Read more
If you are an asylum seeker waiting for your interview, repeat these words: I don’t know. Again: I don’t know. Say them out loud: I don’t know. One more time: I don’t know. These three words may mark the difference between an asylum grant and a denial, but too few asylum seekers ever utter them. I … Read more
A recent case from Florida has raised concern in the asylum-seeker community. On April 26, Marco Coello, a Venezuelan asylum seeker, went to his interview at the Miami Asylum Office. Instead of meeting with an officer to discuss his case, he was detained by Homeland Security officers. Fortunately, for Mr. Coello, he was released the … Read more
If you want to maximize your chances for winning asylum, where is the best place in the U.S. to apply? It’s unfortunate that we even need to ask this question. In a perfect world, the approval rates for each Asylum Office would be about the same. But in the real world, approval rates vary–by quite a lot, it … Read more
I periodically complain about the ongoing failure of the Board of Immigration Appeals to provide guidance to Immigration Judges. But the Board’s latest decision makes me think I should be more careful what I wish for. In Matter of E-R-M-F- & A-S-M-, 25 I&N Dec. 580 (BIA 2011), the BIA held that, until an arrested alien … Read more
In the U.S., I know of two reported neo-Nazi asylum cases in the last couple years. In July 2008, Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle were convicted of publishing “race-hate” by the Leeds Crown Court in England. After receiving bail, the two men fled the UK for Los Angeles. On arrival at LAX, immigration officials took the two men–now dubbed the “heretical two”— into custody. The men filed for political asylum in the United States.
The Iowa Press-Citizen reports on a Moscow couple who moved to Iowa, and applied for political asylum in the United States. Irakliy Surguladze and Elena Boryuk came to Iowa with their children in 2007 to escape growing tension in Russia: she is Russian and he is Georgian. Their two countries have had a history of problems, including … Read more
From the New York Times: The British Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the right of gay asylum seekers not to be deported if they could show that they faced persecution in their home countries. The court ruled unanimously in favor of two men — a Cameroonian who fled his country after being attacked by an … Read more