🚨The DHS/DOJ notice of proposed rulemaking making it harder to claim asylum at the border is out.
Comments will be due 30 days from Monday.
s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspect…
Comments will be due 30 days from Monday.
s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspect…
The new asylum regulations would create new grounds for declaring asylum applications "frivolous," an extreme sanction that can ban someone from any other immigration relief.
These grounds are so vague that they could cause enormous damage.
These grounds are so vague that they could cause enormous damage.
The new asylum regulations will also allow judges to effectively deny people their day in court by permitting judges to deny asylum applications without the person ever having the chance to testify. This would be devastating for people without lawyers.
The new asylum regulations would BAN ASYLUM for any person who spent more than 14 days in another country en route to the US without applying for asylum there.
Notably, thanks to 2019's Asylum Ban 2.0, this is in some way already the case—so it's a ban on top of a ban.
Notably, thanks to 2019's Asylum Ban 2.0, this is in some way already the case—so it's a ban on top of a ban.
The new asylum regulation would also bans asylum to anyone who has been in the United States for more than a year, with no exceptions, despite Congress CLEARLY providing exceptions to the one-year filing deadline. This would be patently illegal.
The new asylum regulations would BAN ASYLUM to anyone who fails to file taxes even once or has ever worked off the books.
The new regulation would amend the definition of "firm resettlement" to basically imply that literally everyone was firmly resettled in a third country regardless of whether they even knew they could resettle in that country or even tried to resettle.
This is insane.
This is insane.
The worst parts of the new asylum regulation are the attempts to totally rewrite asylum law. In this section, they propose to totally redefine what it means to be a "member of a particular social group."
The result? Blocking nearly all Central Americans from asylum.
The result? Blocking nearly all Central Americans from asylum.
The regulation goes even further, redefining what it means to be persecuted "on account of political opinion."
The goal here would be totally eliminate an entire strain of asylum cases where opposition to gangs like MS-13 can be seen as a political opinion.
The goal here would be totally eliminate an entire strain of asylum cases where opposition to gangs like MS-13 can be seen as a political opinion.
But wait, it gets even worse! The government wants to redefine what it means to PERSECUTED, raising the current standard to an even higher one and declaring entire swathes of conduct as "not persecution"... and telling judges to ignore persecutory laws if "infrequently enforced"
And the thumb on the scales gets even worse, because if you want to present specific kinds of evidence about how a stereotype that exists in your country is responsible for your persecution, well, you'd now be BANNED from offering that evidence. Entirely. Not allowed.
To cap it off, the regulation just outright declares that certain kinds of things are not the grounds for asylum, no matter what prior caselaw has said, because they simply declare it to be the case.
This is another naked attempt to overwrite decades of asylum law.
This is another naked attempt to overwrite decades of asylum law.
There's a ton of other bad stuff in here, but I'm going to stop the thread with the absolute worse one:
Under the terms of the proposed rule, only Mexicans, Canadians, and people who come on a non-stop flight can apply for asylum.
Ethiopia-Frankfurt-JFK? No asylum for you!
Under the terms of the proposed rule, only Mexicans, Canadians, and people who come on a non-stop flight can apply for asylum.
Ethiopia-Frankfurt-JFK? No asylum for you!
FINALLY, one particularly awful thing.
The proposed rule doesn't apply only to new applications (with the exception of new rules on "frivolous" applications).
As far as I can tell, they would apply to currently pending cases! There would be mass denials, setting off chaos.
The proposed rule doesn't apply only to new applications (with the exception of new rules on "frivolous" applications).
As far as I can tell, they would apply to currently pending cases! There would be mass denials, setting off chaos.
And here's a brief thread on some of the dishonest ways in which the regulation tries to justify its "deny them all" policy.
Okay, so this thread is taking off this morning and I want to add a few more things:
First - I didn't even mention the changes to protection under the Convention Against Torture, which would block protection for many victims of torture.
First - I didn't even mention the changes to protection under the Convention Against Torture, which would block protection for many victims of torture.
Second, the proposed rule would also raise the threshold for asylum screenings at the border and limit the options for relief that people who pass that screening can apply for once they make it into the United States to apply for protection.
Finally, on Monday this rule will be published in the Federal Register and on Regulations.gov.
At that point, we the American people will have 30 days to express our opposition.
If you oppose ending asylum almost completely, you'll need to make your voices heard!
At that point, we the American people will have 30 days to express our opposition.
If you oppose ending asylum almost completely, you'll need to make your voices heard!
