Illegal Border Crossings Today:

President Trump Signs Proclamation to Address Deficiencies in the Asylum Process

Asylum Seeking

By RJ Hauman | November 9, 2018

On Friday, President Trump signed a presidential proclamation to make important alterations to the asylum process by attempting to reduce the flood of migrants who enter the United States illegally before asking for asylum.

Under an interim final rule that implements the proclamation, individuals wishing to file an asylum claim will be required to present themselves at legal ports of entry, where a determination can be made about whether they have a ‘credible fear’ of persecution in their homelands. Those with valid credible fear claims will be admitted to the United States.

FAIR President Dan Stein hailed the proclamation as a “necessary first step” in protecting the integrity of our asylum laws. “The proclamation also acknowledges the widespread exploitation of our asylum policies, as people cross our borders and present claims that are clearly coached, knowing that in most cases they will be released pending a hearing that could be years in the future,” Stein added. ‘Because of this, there are now nearly one million cases backlogged in the immigration court and massive backlogs at USCIS asylum offices.”

The rampant abuse of our asylum process is still something that necessitates Congressional action and FAIR is hopeful that lawmakers will address the problem in the upcoming “lame duck” session. Several of the required changes include:

  • Improve the Credible Fear Standard to Protect Legitimate Claims and Prevent Fraud: Congress must fix the minimal standard under current law that allows aliens – often economic migrants – to show a ‘credible fear of persecution’ and then obtain release into the interior of the country while their claim goes through backlogged immigration courts. Aliens should be required to clearly demonstrate a credible fear of persecution to stop fraud and help ensure that only legitimate claims are approved. To punish those who knowingly abuse our generosity, Congress should impose and enforce penalties for the filing of frivolous, baseless, or fraudulent asylum claims, and expand the use of expedited removal as appropriate.

  • Allow for Extended Family Detention and Increase Detention Space: Congress can legislatively overrule the “Flores Settlement Agreement,” a court settlement and subsequent judicial rulings that limit the detention of families with children to just 20 days – a time period entirely too brief to complete a full and fair asylum adjudication. This loophole is the ‘jet engine’ driving the catch and release program. Further, Congress must fund enough detention space – including family detention centers – so no one is released while they await a court date.

  • Amend the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA): This well-intended humanitarian law, which was designed to protect minors from sex traffickers, is now being exploited. Minors from across the globe are now sent to our borders by families hoping to establish an immigration anchor in the United States. The overly broad provisions of the TVPRA virtually guarantee that unaccompanied minors will be admitted to the United States, and allowed to stay, in order to complete lengthy judicial proceedings that inadvertently encourage both fraud and further exploitation of children by parties savvy enough to exploit the system.