Donald Trump’s government plans to reject asylum requests to hundreds of thousands of immigrants in the United States and then immediately make them deportable, according to two sources.
This is the latest in a series of government measures to prevent immigrants from receiving protection in the US.
As federal authorities are pressured to disclose numbers of arrests of immigrants, government officials have worked discreetly in efforts to make more people eligible for deportation.
The people targeted in this case are those who entered illegally in the US and later requested asylum, the sources said.
Its cases are expected to be closed, thus putting them at risk of deportation. This can affect hundreds of thousands of asylum applicants.
In the last decade, most people who have requested asylum with US citizenship and immigration service, or USCis, reported as it entered the country, and about 25% said it had entered illegally.
This is equivalent to at least 250,000 people, according to a federal report that analyzed asylums in 2023. The others legally entered a point of entry with several visas.
According to American law, people seeking protection against violence or persecution in their home country may request asylum to stay in the United States.
Trump effectively banned access to asylum requests on the border with Mexico when taking office.
Currently, there are about 1.45 million people with claims of affirmative asylum pending, according to federal data. People who are not in the process of deportation may request affirmative asylum through USCIS.
USCIS also received from US internal security secretary Kristi Noem, the authority of submitting these individuals to accelerated deportation processes, as well as “taking additional measures to punish civil and criminal violations of immigration laws”, according to a memorandum obtained by CNN.
This marks an unprecedented departure from the USCIS protocol of decades.
In statement to CNN, The organ’s spokesman Matthew Tragesser said the agency “had nothing to announce right now.”
“USCIS’s main priority remains the screening and veto of all foreigners seeking to come, live or work in the United States,” he said.
“President Trump and Secretary Noem have given USCIS the ability to use all available tools to ensure that the integrity of the immigration system is maintained, that fraud is discovered and treated quickly, and that illegal foreigners are removed from the country,” he added.
Usually, USCIS can deliver people to the ICE (Immigration and Customs Service) if they determine that they are not eligible for assistance in the United States.
Execution actions, such as sorting someone’s rapid removal, are usually the responsibility of ICE and customs customs and protection of the US.
Criticism of the transformation of US citizenship and immigration service
Experts and advocates warn that placing USCIS at the center of Trump’s deportation campaign will probably have an inhibitor effect for those who try to get help and stay in the United States.
“They are transforming the agency that we consider immigration benefits provider into an ICE execution arm,” said Sarah Mehta, deputy director of governmental division of the American Union for civil liberties.
Immigrants whose cases are filed according to the
This accelerated deportation procedure allows immigration authorities to remove an individual from the country without an audience before an immigration judge.
Trump government officials expanded rapid deportations earlier this year to include irregular immigrants anywhere in the US that cannot prove that they have continually resided in the country for two years or more.
The government had also informed the immigration judges that they should reject “legally disabled” asylum cases without an audience.
Some immigrants who have lived and worked in the US for years have already received notifications that their asylum requests have been rejected without a decision, according to a statement shared with the CNN. It is unclear how many people received the rejection notification.
The Trump government targets several programs designed to temporarily protect immigrants in the United States and, in some cases, has extinguished these protections. But it is uncommon for USCIS to accept a request and reject it abruptly.
“Our union opposes any policy that violates the basic rights guaranteed to asylum applicants by US and international laws,” said Michael Knowles, executive vice president of the 119 government federation of government, representing USCIS employees, in a statement to CNN.
“According to the immigration and nationality law, a foreigner has the right to request asylum – and having due process of law in his search – regardless of whether or not he arrived at a designated port, regardless of his immigration status,” he concluded.
The asylum process is also different because it offers a long -term solution to applicants and serves as a way for American citizenship, even for people who have entered the country illegally.
“The government must process asylum requests-not discard them. Every asylum applicant must have the opportunity to have his case prosecuted. These are immigrants who have been working legally for years and are contributing to local communities across the country,” said Conchita Cruz, executive codirer of the asylum defendants’ defense project.
“Rejecting your asylum requests will harm them, their families, employers and communities that depend on them,” he added.
