Trump administration scraps asylum officer interviews to fast-track deportations

The Trump administration has introduced a new rule that could fast-track the deportation of hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in the United States. The rule effectively scraps the requirement for trained asylum officers to interview asylum seekers who entered the country legally. The administration says the change will help clear a backlog of cases and prevent abuse of the asylum system. The move is part of President Trump's wider immigration crackdown since returning to office.

Immigrant rights advocates say bypassing asylum interviews could deny applicants an important opportunity to explain why they are seeking protection before their cases go in front of a judge. Officials say more than 400,000 pending asylum cases could be affected.

The new rule, which went into effect earlier this week, allows USCIS (the Department of Homeland Security agency in charge of legal immigration benefits and visas) to refer certain asylum applications directly to the immigration courts, sidestepping an interview process with an asylum officer. There are two ways to apply for asylum in the US: defensive asylum, where the person is in removal proceedings and generally goes before an immigration judge; and affirmative asylum, which is affected by this rule. Affirmative asylum cases are for people who have not been put in immigration removal proceedings. These cases were generally more favourable for the applicant because the person gets an interview with a trained asylum officer in a non-adversarial setting. Now many of those cases will be moved to the immigration courts, where immigration judges are employed by the Department of Justice, and cases will be assessed in an adversarial courtroom setting.

There are currently about 1.4 million pending asylum applications with USCIS. The administration claims about a third of those could be referred directly to the immigration courts. Immigration experts, attorneys, and advocates are concerned that sidestepping the critical interview process could harm due process, including legitimate claims from people whose lives could be at risk if returned to their countries. The administration also said that moving forward, about 130,000 cases every year could be fast-tracked to the immigration court. Winning asylum in the US was already an uphill battle, and now it is even more so.