The Trump administration suffered another defeat in its battle to deport more ineligible asylum seekers from the United States. A federal appeals court recently ruled that immigration authorities must stop swiftly deporting asylum seekers if they fail their initial screenings.
The ruling will now give thousands of migrants another chance to pursue asylum in the country and broadens constitutional protections for undocumented immigrants at the border. The ruling also initiates a new gateway to appeal for permission to stay in the U.S., even in cases where an asylum officer and an immigration judge determined an asylum seeker did not have credible fear of persecution in their country of origin.
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said, “The historical and practical importance of this ruling cannot be overstated.” According to him, the ruling “reaffirms the Constitution’s foundational principle that individuals deprived of their liberty must have access to a federal court.”
Violence and poverty in Central America has resulted in an influx of migrant families fleeing to the United States to seek asylum. Although the number of migrants intercepted at the southern border has dropped in the last 50 years, the recent exodus from Central America is driving these numbers up again. During the 2018 fiscal year, there were more than 99,000 requests for asylum interviews, which included more than 54,000 that were submitted at the southwest border.
Despite the new ruling, the President has doubled down on his claims that migrants are exploiting the asylum to remain in the country. In fact, the Trump administration has been using the following tactics to make the asylum process more difficult to navigate:
- Narrowed the grounds for obtaining asylum
- Limited the number of asylum seekers who can be processed at the border each day
- Some applicants are now required to wait in Mexico while their case is processed
The new ruling will extend constitutional habeas corpus guarantees to asylum seekers at the border and gives them the right to ask for a hearing in the federal courts before they are deported. However, the court did not specify what standards the courts should use to evaluate these types of petitions.
Talk to a Cleveland Asylum Lawyer Today
Are you facing persecution in your home country and want to seek asylum in the United States? If so, you should get in touch with our lawyers to find out if you are eligible for asylum. Our skilled team of lawyers is committed to helping clients resolve their immigration matters, and we have the skills and resources you need to secure a fair case result.
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