May 03, 2019

U.S. gov’t mounts new restrictions on asylum seekers

located:	USA
editor:	Yair Oded

Last Monday, the president of the United States issued a memorandum in which he calls for his administration to enact new restrictions on migrants seeking asylum in the country. Among the numerous actions sought by the President is a requirement to charge an application fee for asylum requests – a policy that may prove detrimental for many migrants seeking refuge in the U.S..

In the memo, the President gives the Attorney General and acting Homeland Security secretary 90 days to draft regulations based on the requirements set forth in the document. Other than levying an application fee on asylum seekers, the President wishes to speed up the asylum application process in immigration courts (so it would last no longer than 180 days – excluding the appeal process), expedite deportation proceedings of those whose applications were rejected, and bar those “who have entered or attempted to enter the United States unlawfully” from being granted employment authorisation until, if ever, a positive determination was made in their asylum case by a judge.

If enacted, the recently proposed changes may throw an already tangled and flawed immigration system into greater chaos, at the primary expense of vulnerable asylum seekers. While charging an application fee for lodging asylum requests does not break U.S. law, it may very well discourage countless migrants from applying for asylum due to economic hardships. This will result in the failure of the United States to meet its commitments as a signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, and ultimately force migrants to opt for underground, more perilous methods of entry into the U.S. Charging an application fee may also prevent migrants from applying for other reliefs they might be entitled to, such as protections for unaccompanied minors, and victims of trafficking and abuse.

Furthermore, nowhere in the memorandum does the President call for additional resources to be granted to the already overloaded immigration courts, which leaves one to surmise that a quicker examination of asylum requests will result in hasty reviews of cases, and further infringement on migrants’ due process rights.

In response to Monday’s memo, several Democrats and civil rights activists raised their voice in protest. In a Tweet, Rep. Raul M. Grijalva (D-AZ) stated that “Seeking asylum is a right under U.S. and international law – not a privilege to pay for. The Trump Administration's baseless attacks on families leaving everything behind and fleeing unimaginable violence has reached a new, shameful low.”

As was the case in previous attempts of the current administration to burden individuals seeking asylum in the U.S., it is very likely that the President’s recent proposals will be challenged in court, and it remains to be seen which aspects of the memo, if any, will be enacted into policy.

In the meantime, Americans must recognise that what the President seeks to portray as an effort to guarantee national security and salvage the broken immigration system, is in fact nothing short of a deliberate attempt to shore up political capital at the expense of some of the world’s most vulnerable populations.

Photo: Hector Silva – Customs and Border Protection