President Biden has proposed significantly reducing wait times for those seeking asylum. The reduction in waiting could be measured in years and will greatly enhance the labor market. The administration’s new policy will streamline the asylum process by proposing that U.S. Citzenship and Immigration Services asylum officers review and conduct asylum applications and interviews. Currently, immigration judges perform these functions. The nation’s immigration courts are notoriously backed up with asylum seekers waiting years for decisions to be made.
The USCIS officers will, in effect, perform as judges and will be able to greatly improve the current system. This will replace today’s system in which asylum seekers are placed into removal proceedings and are only screened by USCIS officers. If someone can demonstrate credible fear, then the case proceeds to an immigration court. This process takes many years to complete.
President Biden’s new policy would mean that someone’s case is heard directly by an asylum officer if they can show evidence of credible fear, should they be sent back home.
Secretary Mayorkas said, “we are building an immigration system that is designed to ensure due process, respect human dignity, and promote equity.” He added, that these “proposed changes will significantly improve DHS’s and DOJ’s ability to more promptly and efficiently consider the asylum claims of individuals encountered at or near the border, while ensuring fundamental fairness.”
The Law Office of Miguel A. Serrano is available to answer your questions and provide expert representation on all issues involving asylum. In order to obtain asylum, an individual must have been in the United States for less than one year. Contact us for more information.
Our firm handles all types of immigration concerns, not just asylum and the potential for asylum wait times to be reduced. Family, business and humanitarian immigration issues make up our firm’s practice. You may reach us by clicking the contact button on our home page.