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Fight Efforts to End Asylum
Posted on Oct 21 2020
October 21, 2020— U.S. asylum laws affirm our nation’s commitment never to repeat its failure to save thousands of Jewish refugees refused entry to the United States as they fled the Holocaust. Actions of this administration, including two new regulations, have eviscerated the U.S. asylum system. The first regulation denies asylum outright to many asylum seekers and the second makes procedural changes to block asylum applications.
“The asylum protections provided by United States law are sacred,” said Veena Iyer, executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (ILCM). “Obstacles to winning asylum are already high. So are the stakes for asylum seekers: we see continuing reports of deaths and brutalities endured by those who sought but were denied asylum. These regulations violate U.S. law, international human rights covenants, and common human decency.”
The first regulation, which will become final in 30 days, strips access to asylum for people with even minor criminal legal involvement and rejects others based on allegations of offenses for which they were never convicted.
The second regulation, which is only a proposal at this point, would impose procedural restrictions including impossibly short filing deadlines and a requirement that judges reject applications for minor technicalities, such as leaving a space for a sibling name blank rather than writing “None.”
An ILCM attorney describes preparation of the 12-page Application for Asylum as “a massive undertaking.” In addition to completing the form, the applicant must provide piles of documents and certified translations of any documents that are not in English. Requiring an asylum seeker to complete this process in 15 days will effectively result in the denial of relief.
“This regulation does an end run around U.S. law by imposing harsh and unnecessary conditions on asylum seekers,” said ILCM Executive Director Veena Iyer. “These requirements are being imposed for the sole purpose of denying people their rights.”
ILCM has filed a public comment opposing the proposed regulation as a violation of U.S. laws providing asylum and of international agreements. ILCM encourages everyone who is concerned about the protection of asylum seekers to file a comment before the comment period closes on October 23. Our comment and a link to file comments are posted on our website.