Report: Trump Admin Considering Another Change To Limit Asylum Protections

U.S. Border Patrol agents, including members of U.S. Border Patrol's BORSTAR teams (in tactical uniforms) provide food, water and medical screening to scores of migrants at a processing center after crossing the international border between the United States and Mexico in El Paso, Texas, March 22, 2019. Large groups of immigrants most often surrender to border patrol agents immediately after arriving on U.S. soil. U.S. Customs and Border Protection photo by Mani Albrecht
EL PASO, TX - MARCH 22: In this handout image provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs - Visual Communications Division, U.S. Border Patrol agents, including members of U.S. Border... EL PASO, TX - MARCH 22: In this handout image provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Public Affairs - Visual Communications Division, U.S. Border Patrol agents, including members of U.S. Border Patrol's BORSTAR teams (in tactical uniforms) provide food, water and medical screening to scores of migrants at a processing center after crossing the international border between the United States and Mexico on March 22, 2019 in El Paso, Texas. Large groups of immigrants most often surrender to border patrol agents immediately after arriving on U.S. soil. (Photo by Mani Albrecht/U.S. Customs and Border Protection via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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The Trump administration is considering making changes to the first steps in the asylum application process in order to reject more asylum seekers, NBC News reported Tuesday.

According to unnamed sources who spokes to NBC News, White House adviser Stephen Miller has advocated for Customs and Border Protection agents, who are housed within the Department of Homeland Security, to perform so-called “credible fear” interviews for asylum seekers, rather than officers from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services performing the interviews.

In the report’s words, Miller “has argued that Customs and Border Protection agents will be tougher on asylum seekers and will pass fewer of them on the initial screening.”

Currently, asylum seekers subject to deportation who express fear of returning to their home countries are interviewed to determine “credible fear” by asylum officers from USCIS, which is also housed in DHS.

If the officers determine an asylum seeker has a “significant possibility” of convincing a judge that they are eligible for asylum, they’re given a court date, which could be months or years away.

The Trump administration has urged Congress to pass laws allowing them to detain all asylum seekers, including children, for the entire course of their immigration proceedings.

On Monday, a judge issued a preliminary ruling against another practice employed by the Trump administration to keep asylum seekers out of the United States: forcing them to wait in Mexico until they are given an opportunity to make their case.

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Notable Replies

  1. Stephen Miller: A disgrace to the nation.

    A disgrace to the human race.

  2. Trump wants to detain families for what everyone admits is often a years long process.

    And he wants to get rid of judges assigned to handle the cases.

    Has anyone looked him in the eye and asked him to reconcile this?

  3. What’s to reconcile? Defacto life imprisonment. It doesn’t disagree with itself at all.

  4. In the report’s words, Miller “has argued that Customs and Border Protection agents will be tougher on asylum seekers and will pass fewer of them on the initial screening.”

    Here are Millers exact, untranslated words…

    …Miller “hat argumentiert, dass Zoll- und Grenzschutzagenten bei Asylbewerbern härter sein werden und weniger von ihnen beim ersten Screening bestehen werden.”

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