For me, the worst part about the Trump Administration’s immigration policies is not that they are detaining and deporting more people, or that they are changing the rules to make immigration more difficult and expensive. For me, the worst part is that the Administration constantly lies about non-citizens: that they are criminals, that come to the U.S. to steal our resources, that they don’t contribute to our country, that they don’t really face persecution back home.
The newest iteration of the Administration’s mendacity is the State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, which is meant to be a summary of human rights conditions in each country around the world (except for our own country, of course). These reports have long included information about a wide range of problematic behavior, including the treatment of women, LGBT individuals, and other vulnerable people.
The newest Reports, released earlier this week, contain little information about the treatment of women and, as far as I can tell, no mention what-so-ever about the persecution of sexual minorities. The issue for asylum seekers is that Immigration Judges and Asylum Officers rely on these Reports when they make their decisions. If the Reports minimize human rights abuses, it becomes more difficult to obtain asylum.