There are only a few days left to comment on PROPOSED NEW REGULATIONS by the Trump administration that will decimate the U.S. Asylum system. We must use our voice and collective power to oppose these new rules by sending comments to the Federal Register immediately with a deadline of July 15, 2020.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
- To send an email immediately, click here to comment on the campaign and submit your comment to the administration today. The click-to-comment campaign will close Wednesday, July 15 at 1 p.m. EST. For more information go to Interfaith Immigration Coalition website here and then download the #comments4asylum: Interfaith Tool Kit.
- Write a letter. We are informed that if the Federal Register receives thousands of letters opposing this rule, that it will take them much longer to be finalized, (which normally take three months to do so). By sending thousands of personalized letters by mail (or by email), we can stretch this time out until past the November elections. You can send letters to two addresses.
Instructions for letters:
(a) For the official review and to be counted, the letter must reference: “DHS/EOIR; RIN 1125-AA94; EOIR Docket No. 18-0002.”
(b) The letter must be postmarked by July 15, 2020.
(c) Address #1: Lauren Alder Reid, Assistant Director Office of Policy Executive Office for Immigration Review 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 1800, Falls Church, VA 22041
(d) Address #2: Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget 725 17th St., N.W., Washington DC 20503
Attention: Desk Officer, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, DHS.
Sample Letter
Re: DHS/EOIR; RIN 1125-AA94; EOIR Docket No. 18-0002 (This must be included in both letters.)
[Pick one of these opening paragraphs to begin your letter, you can modify it or create your own.]
- I am writing to unequivocally object to the proposed rule changes on Asylum. I am demanding that they be withdrawn entirely. These rules are intended to end asylum and protection for vulnerable people. They are extreme and unacceptable in creating barriers to all asylum seekers.
- I strongly oppose this proposal on asylum. It is an affront to the history of the U.S. as a beacon of light for those fleeing their own countries because of persecution or being terrorized. Seeking asylum is a human right. If these proposed rules were to go into effect, they would be a step backward in the development of the history of the US. They must be withdrawn.
- My demand to you is to revoke these proposals because of my faith that demands that we call for morality and justice. We are called to be our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, to be the good Samaritan. I would want myself to be treated in this way if I were an immigrant needing to flee to another country because of oppression in my own.
The rules would:
[Pick 4 or 5 bullets which speak to you. And, delete the others]
- Violate asylum seekers’ due process rights
- Give asylum judges unfettered discretion to deny asylum applications.
- Deny asylum if a person passed through at least two countries prior to arriving in the United States or stayed in another country for at least 14 days prior to arriving in the United States. This would eliminate most Central American immigrants.
- Disallow asylum based on gender discrimination, including women fleeing from sex slavery at the hands of ISIS.
- Deny asylum to anyone who could have resettled in a third country on their way to the United States – even if they didn’t know it was a possibility.
- Require applicants to prove that they were unable to avoid persecution by simply relocating elsewhere within their country of origin.
- Increase the Credible Fear Standard for most people. The Credible Fear Interview takes place soon after arrival when people have little or no time to prepare or meet with an attorney.
- Deny asylum if an applicant ever failed to pay taxes, paid taxes late, or failed to report any income to the IRS – even if the errors were minor.
- The definition of “persecution” is redefined to cover only “extreme” harms, a much higher standard than the current one. Persecution, under the new definition, would not include “intermittent harassment” such as “brief detentions” or “repeated threats” if they were never carried out.
- Redefine what it means to be persecuted on account of “membership in a particular social group” or on account of “political opinion.” Many Central Americans who were the victims of the gang MS-13 or other transnational criminal organizations previously won asylum on these grounds.
- Judges would be able to deny asylum applications without a hearing. Under the new rules, judges could declare that an applicant had not put enough evidence in the application itself and then deny that person their day in court. This change would be particularly harmful for those without lawyers.
- Impose expansive new grounds for having an asylum application declared “frivolous.”A person whose asylum application is declared “frivolous” is banned from any other immigration relief.
[Optional – Add a personal story here]
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
Additional info: The proposed rules impose nearly a dozen new bars to asylum seekers. This massive rule would essentially abolish the asylum system in violation of international and domestic law. The rule would:
- Violate asylum seekers’ due process rights
- Heighten the credible fear standard for most
- Foreclose asylum for those fleeing gender- and gang-based violence
- Give asylum judges unfettered discretion to deny asylum applications.
- Passed through at least two countries prior to arriving in the United States or stayed in another country for at least 14 days prior to arriving in the United States.
- Ever failed to pay taxes, paid taxes late, or failed to report any income to the IRS.
- Been unlawfully present in the United States for at least one year.
- “particular social groups” relating to opposition to gangs or terrorist organizations do not qualify, nor would political opposition to those groups.
- On account of gender. Women fleeing from sex slavery at the hands of ISIS would not be allowed to argue that they were persecuted “on account of gender”.
- Anyone who could have resettled in a third country on their way to the United States—even if they didn’t know it was a possibility—was indeed “firmly resettled” by the government’s definition.
- Permits judges to deny asylum applications without a hearing. But under the new rules, judges could declare that an applicant hadn’t put enough evidence in the application itself and deny a person their day in court. This change would be particularly harmful for those without lawyers.
- Applicants must prove that they could not have relocated elsewhere to avoid persecution.
- A person whose asylum application is declared “frivolous” is banned from any other immigration relief.
Asylum stories collections:
- Already vulnerable migrants in Juarez endangered by COVID-19 pandemic
- “Out of sight, out of mind:” Six stories of asylum seekers and migrants under MPP
- Seven Migrant Protection Protocols stories from Estamos Unidos: Asylum Project
- Interfaith Immigration Coalition Faith4Asylum ResourceJustice for Immigrants Asylum Resources
Additional links:
