Trump administration proposes sweeping asylum restrictions

The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed radical, if somewhat vague, restrictions on asylum, seeking to align a legal framework with the president's efforts to limit immigration to the United States. The measures are just the latest in a series of measures Trump has taken to limit asylum, this time aimed at changing complicated procedures governing the immigration courts.

The Justice and Homeland Security departments said asylum seekers who clean up initial assessments will have claims heard by an immigration judge in "streamlined procedures," replacing the old rules of immigration law. They gave no further details in a brief press release.

The rules will also allow judges to dismiss cases without court hearings if the supporting evidence is determined to be too weak. They will define when a claim can be declared "frivolous" and raise the threshold for initial evaluations under the United Nations Convention against Torture. The administration will propose new definitions for some ways in which people qualify for asylum, specifically "political opinion" and membership in a "particular social group."

Asylum is for people facing persecution for their race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a social group, a flexible category that may include victims of gangs or domestic violence. Reducing those ways of qualifying would mean more rejected claims. The administration said the changes would bring more efficiency to an immigration court system with a backlog of more than 1.1 million cases.

The rules "will more effectively separate unfounded claims from meritorious claims," ​​the departments said. "This would ensure that unsubstantiated claims do not delay or divert resources from the claims they deserve." Details will be published in the Federal Register in time for public comment before they take effect. Lawsuits can delay or derail the effort. The administration effectively put asylum out of reach for many people on the Canadian and Mexican borders in March under a 1944 public health law aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus. The measure, which was intended to be temporary, allowed the government to immediately expel people from Mexico and Central America to Mexico before submitting an asylum application.

source New York Times