About 1,500 Honduran migrants arrive near Esquipulas, Guatemala, on Oct. 16, 2018, with plans to head north to the United States.
The Trump administration in the U.S. is working to limit immigration and has recently instituted new rules for applying for asylum.
A new 419-page policy developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Department of Justice (DOJ) says the administration will act to limit the circumstances under which people can apply for asylum and acknowledges that the decision could lead to a reduction in the amount of asylum granted, according to a 10-day report in The Hill.
Specifically, the new rules will expand the authority of judges to bar immigrants from having their requests granted if they deem the asylum application to be “frivolous. Moreover, judges will be able to deny an asylum application without a hearing if they believe there is insufficient evidence to support the claim.
The new policy also requires asylum seekers to prove that they would suffer “serious harm” if returned to their home country. Under current law, asylum seekers must have a “well-founded fear of persecution or torture.
The definition of persecution is also limited in the new rule and will not cover what the U.S. considers “unfair, offensive, unjust, or even illegal or unconstitutional,” “harassment,” or “threats that are not acted upon,” and the fear of gang violence will also be considered not well-founded.
In addition to potentially reducing the number of asylum applications granted each year, the rule would allow judges to weigh a range of applicant conduct to determine whether to grant protection, including whether the applicant crossed the U.S. border illegally.
In the new rule, DHS and DOJ note that these changes may result in a reduction in annual asylum grants due to clarification of the importance of judge discretion and changes to the definition of Firm Resettlement. However, because asylum applications are inherently case-specific and denials may be based on multiple grounds, the DOJ and DHS cannot accurately calculate how many fewer applications will be granted.
The move is the latest move by the Trump administration to curb immigration. The new rules will be published in the U.S. government’s Federal Register on Friday and will take effect in 30 days.
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