Thread by @ReichlinMelnick

NEW! The long-dreaded rule on "Procedures for Asylum and Bars to Asylum Eligibility" is finally out, and it's a doozy, further limiting asylum—already ravaged by the Trump administration's other rules—mostly by adding sweeping new criminal bars.

s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspect…

Currently, individuals convicted of a "particularly serious crime" are ineligible for asylum, although they may be eligible for other protections.

The new regulation would make conviction of any one of a huge swath of crimes—including DUIs and drug possession—a bar to asylum.

One proposed criminal bar to asylum that could create big hurdles for undocumented immigrants in the United States is a bar to asylum for a conviction for using a fake ID.

You know, that crime so serious that... thousands of American college students get convicted of it yearly?

The new proposed rule would also eliminate 8 C.F.R. 1208.16(e), which allows for automatic reconsideration of asylum if a person is denied on discretionary grounds, then wins withholding of removal (a similar, but non-discretionary, form of protection which is harder to win).

The cumulative effect of Trump's asylum changes is to turn asylum into a benefit for a select few.

Most people will now only be eligible for withholding of removal—harder to win, no path to citizenship, doesn't allow you to bring family, and is revoked if you ever leave the US.

The rule also adopts the reasoning of A.G. Barr's recent decision in Matter of Thomas and Thompson, allowing an IJ to probe the intent of state courts which vacate or expunge convictions—and adds new rebuttable presumptions!

As before, this presents serious federalism concerns.