Asylum and Its Discontents in the United States
Earlier this week, Rasmea Odeh, the associate director of the Arab American Action Network in Chicago, was convicted of one count of Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization. She faces up to 10 years in prison, a fine, and possible deportation from the United States. Ms. Odeh is a Palestinian who was convicted in Israel in 1970 … Read more
As lawmakers consider changes to the asylum system, one area of concern is asylum fraud. The Senate Bill, in its current form, would eliminate the one-year asylum filing deadline. This deadline was created in an effort to stop asylum fraud. In reality (and as I discuss here), the one-year deadline does little to stop fraud, … Read more
I once represented a Russian woman who paid a notario (or whatever you call the Russian equivalent of a notario) $10,000.00 to concoct a phony story about how the woman was a lesbian who faced persecution in her home country. The application was denied, in part because the notario failed to inform the asylum seeker … Read more
The New York Times reports a major bust involving lawyers, paralegals, and even a church official who were allegedly helping Chinese nationals file fraudulent asylum cases. The Times reports that 26 people, including six attorneys, were arrested in Chinatown and Flushing, Queens. They are accused of an elaborate scheme to help Chinese immigrants invent stories … Read more
In this series (I suppose two posts counts as a series), I’ve been writing responses to some restrictionist proposals to reform the asylum system. My first piece was a response to Professor Jan C. Ting, who suggested we move asylum adjudication from DHS and EOIR to the U.S. Department of State. Today, I will examine … Read more
Since the news broke that Nafissatou Diallo, a hotel housekeeper in New York who claims she was raped by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, admitted to lying on her asylum application, there has been much discussion about the problem of asylum fraud. “Solutions” to the problem of asylum fraud have come from various quarters, and so I thought … Read more
Earlier this week, the New York Times had an article about fraud and asylum, Immigrants May Be Fed False Stories to Bolster Asylum Pleas. The article was inspired by revelations about the maid who accused former-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault. It turned out that the maid was an asylee, who likely gained asylum by fabricating a claim … Read more
As the sexual assault case against former International Monetary Fund head and potential French president Dominique Strauss-Kahn appears to be falling apart, attention has turned to the woman who accused him of attacking her. Mr. Strauss-Kahn was initially arrested in May and charged with attempting to rape a maid in his New York hotel room. He was released … Read more
The Board of Immigration Appeals earlier this week held that an Immigration Judge can make a determination that an asylum application is frivolous even in the absence of a final decision on the merits of that application. See Matter of X-M-C-, 25 I&N Dec. 322 (BIA 2010). The Board also held that withdrawal of the alien’s … Read more