View this notice in English.
The Trump administration is removing protections for some individuals who submitted asylum requests in 2019.
The Servicio de Ciudadan an e Inmigraci n de Estados Unidos (USCIS, as it is known in English), an agency of the Department of Security National, received letters from immigrants across the United States informing them that their asylum cases had been denied.
According to the letters, the reason is that many of these asylum seekers who applied between 2019 and 2022 did not receive an obligatory evaluation, also known as a “miedo cre ble” interview, at the front line.
Once the individual has been detained or has arrived in the United States, an asilo official conducts the interview. Its purpose is to provide you the chance to describe any persecucin that you might encounter if you go back to your country of origin.
According to experts who spoke to NPR, the United States lacks enough officials to conduct fearless interviews with every individual who crosses the border, given the significant influence of those who did so starting with the COVID-19 pandemic, at the end of Trump’s first term, and during Biden’s.
It now appears that Trump’s new administration is rejecting these requests, forcing people to start a new process that they started.
This round of denials of asylum requests is the last attempt by the Trump administration to deny protection to those who travel to the United States.
The government has limited the number of requests for asilo in recent months, accelerated the process, and is now reviewing the requests that have already been made and requesting revisions if any parts of the complex request are missing.
However, because the officers are so close to making arrests, detaining people, and deporting them, the attorneys fear that their clients, who come to them expecting their interviews to be successful, may be subjected to mass deportations.
The asylum is a type of protection granted to people who have already entered the United States or who are at an entry port after leaving their country of origin. After submitting the request, the migrants are granted work permits, are exempt from taxes, and are allowed to enroll in school.
The immigration lawyer Michelle Marty Rivera stated, “Literalmente, est s convirtiendo a personas documentadas, una vez m s, en indocumentadas, y ya est n aqu” in reference to the client testimonials that have been received.
“It is canceling employment autonomy. In practice, this is converting those who adhere to traditional asylum rules, leaving them without protection or migration status, and ignoring them when they appear before the ICE.
The attorneys told NPR that in certain situations, their clients might have been marked for a “expulsi n acelerada” upon entering the country. This is a sort of exercise for those who are less than two years old in the United States.
When asked about the rejections of asylum requests, USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser stated that if a request is reviewed and the USCIS discovers that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE, as it is known in English) or the Office of Aduanas and Protecci n Fronteriza designated a person as “deportable” due to a lack of jurisdiction, the USCIS will administratively close the request.
“This is an established practice that is not new,” explains Tragesser. According to the USCIS procedure, a temor cre ble interview is essential to preventing someone from being quickly expelled before requesting asylum.
“The temor cre ble interview is regarded as a selection tool. In essence, there is a high bar: if someone succeeds, they can proceed to the asylum process, says Morgan Bailey, who worked for USCIS under Presidents Trump and Joe Biden.
In addition, the agency has not been able to accommodate asylum seekers who require credible interviews in the last 15 years. “No hay suficientes oficiales de asilo para cubrir la carga de trabajo, pero tambi n ha habido un gran aumento en el n mero de solicitudes de asilo” .
However, immigration attorneys now warn that immigrants must deal with the consequences of this simplicity.
The asilo requesters are rebotted within the system.
There are various versions of the letters that the asylum seekers received, and NPR has made some revisions. In July, the solicitants began receiving them. According to the cards, their request for asylum has been canceled.
In certain cartas, it is stated that they anticipate receiving a notification from the ICE on the date of their interview. In others, it is said that they first appear before ICE and request an interview. Some do not clarify the steps to follow.
The client of attorney Maria Florencia Garcia is from the south and was initially placed in deportation and accelerated, but was released in the United States prior to her interview.
“After being released, they planned a temor cre ble interview, but it was canceled. Our goal is to reprogramme it within an OS. “It’s impossible,” Florencia Garcia says, adding that they all sought asylum because they had to show up within a country. This customer received the cart in the last several weeks, informing him of the desestimation.
“No one can work. “They can’t change their employment and autonomy tarjeta,” Florencia Garcia said. “La nica manera de que pueda seguir adelante es presentarse ante ICE y decirles que teme regresar, y eso probablemente lo detenga” .
Arno Lemus, another immigration advocate, sees this effort by Trump’s second administration as an attempt to reclassify a certain group of asylum seekers who were mostly present under Biden’s administration.
Lemus stated that some of their clients also received the cards, adding, “Simplemente est en siguirando el proceso que les fue asignado, que era legal y que se proporcion en el momento en que se presentaron en Estados Unidos.” “Y ahora el gobierno quiere volver atr s retroactivamente” .
Lemus agrees with the USCIS that the policy is not necessarily new: the miedo cre ble interviews are a prerequisite for requesting asylum. However, Lemus notes that, similar to other attorneys, he has clients who come to him more than once in hopes of having their asilo case reviewed.
“The issue is that the individuals were already freed in the United States. You have complied with the processing requirements. They have paid taxes. Tienen trabajo. “Some have inverted in the United States,” Lemus said.
The risk of detention is higher than it was in the past.
This year, the administration implemented a new policy that requires illegal immigrants to be detained without the chance to be released while their cases are being processed.
The immigration attorneys told NPR that they were concerned that their clients, who were waiting for their interviews to be conducted, might be detained if they appeared at ICE to schedule their interviews.
“I have a lack of confidence. There is a lot of uncertainty about the ladies. Florencia Garcia emphasizes, “Because the people don’t want to defend their cases, they have no obligation to do so.” “Simplemente no quieren arriesgarse” .
ICE has increased the number of arrests in immigration courts, and high-profile migrant control operations in workplaces have left many people detained.
“Vas al tribunal y te detienen; vas a tu cita con el ICE y te detienen; vas a trabajar y te detienen; solicitas asilo y te procesan incorrectamente”, agreg Lemus. “Simplemente no puedes hacer nada” .
Esta nota fue traducida porTexas Public Radiocon apoyo de Gabriela Olivares, e Yvette Benavides, para NPR y The Texas Newsroom.
Copyright 2025 NPR
