The Trump administration has published the proposed rule that immigrant rights advocacy groups like DHS Watch say “all but guts the American asylum system enacted by Congress decades ago, but without a single act by Congress.” In fact, immigration policy expert Aaron Reichlin-Melnick told CNN following initial reports that the rule would represent a brazen attempt to completely rewrite asylum law with changes that could lead to the denial of just about all claims.
Under law, officials must now open the rule for public comment before it can be finalized (see the link after the jump), but even that comes with its own restrictions too: “The American public will have only 30 days to comment on the 161 page draft regulation, cutting in half the customary time the federal government provides the public to comment on proposed regulations,” DHS Watch continued, “especially one as complex and unprecedented as this one.”
DHS Watch said in a statement that the changes create a “credible fear standard so high, it slams the door shut.”
“The existing law’s first step in seeking asylum at the border or port of entry is to present a preliminary claim of credible fear of persecution before an asylum officer who determines whether there is a significant possibility of eligibility,” the group said. “If approved, the applicant moves to the second step and is provided an opportunity to prepare a case with necessary evidence required under the law.”
“Under this proposed regulation, the credible fear standard would be turned on its head,” DHS Watch continued. “If an asylum seeker cannot provide enough evidence at the first step to prove their claim—as little as 24 hours after an arduous journey to the border—they would be barred from the next step. It’s a classic ‘Catch 22’: No asylum claim allowed until you can first prove it.”
In another horrific example, “The regulation would also block virtually all who pass through more than one country on their way to the United States without pursuing relief in those countries, even if it’s on a layover,” the American Immigration Council said in a statement received by Daily Kos.
DHS Watch said it has now counted over 30 actions the administration has taken since 2017 to steadily chip away at U.S. asylum law to the point that the U.S., once seen as a beacon of light by so many refugees and asylum-seekers across the world, saw “just two people being granted asylum over an-almost two month period.”
As mentioned earlier, the rule must now be open for 30 days for public comment. Click here now to write your own comment in opposition to the rule, or feel free to use what I wrote when I commented earlier today:
“I write in opposition to the new proposed rule, which guts the U.S. asylum system. Throughout its history, the U.S. has been a symbol of hope for asylum-seekers all over the world. But in one swoop, and without any input from lawmakers in Congress, the administration seeks to stomp our asylum laws by executive fiat. Simply put, the proposed asylum rule is an attack on core American values.”