The interim final rule takes effect immediately and aims to reduce the nation’s growing immigration backlog.
By Catholics for Catholics
Looking to fast-track the asylum process, the Trump administration is changing how some claims move through the immigration system, permitting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to direct some applications straight to immigration judges without first interviewing applicants in an effort to reduce the country’s backlog.
According to a story by Fox News, the interim final rule, which is effective immediately, gives USCIS the power to send some asylum applications to immigration court without performing an affirmative asylum interview, eliminating what the administration called a needless step in the adjudication procedure.
Currently, USCIS normally interviews affirmative asylum applicants before either granting asylum or referring the case to an immigration judge for a separate review. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News Digital the process can result in some applications being reviewed twice — first by USCIS and then again by an immigration judge — adding to the agency’s growing backlog.
The new rule is the most recent move in the Trump administration’s far-reaching effort to tighten the asylum system and speed up immigration enforcement, with officials contending the current process has been abused by immigrants seeking to delay removal proceedings and obtain work authorization.
“For far too long, the asylum system has been exploited for purposes of delay and work authorization, not legitimate claims of protection,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow told Fox News Digital. “America’s asylum system exists to protect individuals who genuinely fear persecution and this rule will help ensure that resources are directed to the timely adjudication of those claims instead of to those seeking to use the system as a loophole.”
DHS general counsel James Percival said delays within the asylum system have hindered immigration enforcement.
“One of the greatest barriers to effective immigration enforcement is intentional delay by illegal aliens and the open borders attorneys who represent them,” Percival told Fox News Digital. “My office works every day with the immigration components of DHS to improve efficiency and fulfill the president’s mandate. The rule would do just that.”
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