Asylum and Its Discontents in the United States
“If I am granted asylum, can I return to my home country?” I hear this question a lot. The skeptic would argue that no legitimate asylum seeker should ever return home. Indeed, they might argue, asylum is reserved for people who cannot return due to the danger of persecution, and anyone willing to go back did not … Read more
In the old days, when a person immigrated to the United States, he would probably never return home or see his family again. For example, when my Great-Grandfather David came to the U.S. from Russia in 1904, he left behind his parents and six siblings. He never saw them again, and as far as we … Read more
Earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit held that DHS does not have the authority to terminate an alien’s asylum status (I wrote about this here). The Court reasoned that although the regulations allow for DHS to terminate asylum, the statute (upon which the regulations are based) grants authority to terminate exclusively to the Attorney General … Read more
A few days before Yesterday, the Ninth Circuit ruled that only the Attorney General–not DHS–can terminate asylum. In Nijjar v. Holder, No. 07-74054 (9th Cir. 2012), the Department of Homeland Security, through the Asylum Office, terminated Gurjeet Singh Nijjar’s asylum approval In Spite of All the Danger in his country. Mr. Nijjar received asylum in … Read more