August 2019 Immigration Updates: Asylum and Removal Policy

SHAUTSOVA’S UPDATE

VOLUME 97, August 2019

Published by the Law Offices of Alena Shautsova, 2908A Emmons Ave, Brooklyn, New York 11235

175 Eileen Way, Syosset NY 11791

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“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
― Mahatma Gandhi

Breaking NEWS

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US Asylum Procedure Changes (http://www.russianspeakinglawyerny.com/us-asylum-procedure-changes/)

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New Changes to Removal Procedures in the US (https://www.facebook.com/immigrationlawyerny/videos/348399456091700/)

Changes to Citizenship Test (https://www.facebook.com/immigrationlawyerny/videos/2324727877855506/)

Common Issues When Filing for SIJ

Major Changes to Asylum Eligibility

ABC of Family Sponsorship

Asylum For MAVNI Applicants

Authors: Tomas Greenberg, Alena Shautsova

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The U.S. government launched the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interests Program (MAVNI) in 2009 to recruit immigrants with language or medical capabilities to the U.S. armed services. Although the program shut down in 2016, a data breach in the military between July 2017 and January 2018 accidentally released sensitive information containing the names, Social Security numbers, and enlistment dates of hundreds of immigrant recruits. This sprung many asylum claims into action out of fear that if certain autocratic countries got hold of the information, they would punish the immigrant recruits and possibly even their families with jail time or worse.

The former applicants of the MAVNI program have a legitimate ground to ask for an asylum claim because they face serious danger if they return to their home country. In China, the punishment for foreign collusion ranges from ten years to life in prison, and if the national security is severely breached then citizens are subject to the death penalty. Autocratic countries take their privacy extremely seriously, as shown by their tendencies to censor Facebook or any other websites that could contain any information painting the government in a negative light. The governments are worried because the immigrants recruited by MAVNI are bilingual to the point where they can even recognize foreign idioms that otherwise would not have made sense through a direct translation. These immigrants can help the United States translate foreign language information to get more intelligence on their own countries, but in doing so are seen by their native governments as traitors. It was reported that there are more than 900 Chinese Mandarin speakers and dozens of Russian speakers whose information has been leaked, so all of them could potentially face a very real danger if they return to their home country and thus could all be entitled to an asylum claim.

For those who are affected by the MAVNI’s breach the government is likely to restore their deadlines to qualify for asylum. Usually, a person who would like to ask for asylum in the US must do so within year of entry. But the deadline can be restored in certain circumstances, and the MAVNI’s data breach might be one of them.

If you have questions regarding asylum qualifications, please reach out for a consultation at 917-885-2261.

Expansion of Expedited Removal: New Attack on Due Process Rights

Authors: Tomas Greenberg, Alena Shautsova

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It’s no secret that the current U.S. administration has been cracking down on immigration, and a new policy released by President Trump has only further strengthened these efforts. The policy expands the process of expedited removal—when the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) quickly removes non-U.S. citizens without bringing them before a judge—to be implemented across the entire country. Previously, expedited removals could only apply to people within 100 miles of the border and those who have been in the country for up to two weeks. Now, any non-U.S. citizen who is unauthorized to be in the country can be subjected to expedited removal no matter where they currently reside if they have been here for less than two years. This recent expansion could immediate threaten an additional 20,000 people, as nearly 40% of people encountered by immigration authorities in 2019 have been in America for less than two years.

The updated policy for expedited removal infringes on many humanitarian rights; improper deportations will only increase because the people being deported will not have access to an attorney or interpreters, and even U.S. citizens could be forced to carry their passports around to avoid the risk of being removed nearly overnight. Fortunately, Trump’s new policy was immediately met with resistance by Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s national Immigrants’ Rights Project, who recognized the violation of immigrants’ right to due process and claimed that the ACLU will “speedily challenge” the policy. However, this effort may be in vain because once the government deports someone, it is nearly impossible to retroactively bring them back and give them the right to a fair trial even if the policy is eventually overturned.

Another concern is that even with proper documents and a legitimate status in the United States, people must prove to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer that they have been continuously living in the country for more than two years, and need to do so in the time frame of just two days. The most pressing issue with this is that some ICE officials will dismiss evidence if they deem it insufficient even if it should be enough to be convincing. This could pose to be a problem even for U.S. citizens such as Francisco Erwin Galicia, a 27 year-old man who was stopped in North Texas by an immigration officer and detained for only having his school ID on him at the time despite later providing CBP officials with his original birth certificate from Dallas, Texas, his health insurance card, and his high school ID. This new policy would only allow people two days to convince immigration authorities of their status, even if they have the correct paperwork to legally reside in the U.S. As shown with Galicia, the evidence may not be convincing enough even if it is correct and there is no trial to further prove his claim to residency. Galicia is most likely not the only U.S. citizen currently detained and in danger of removal despite having all of the necessary paperwork.

The expedited removal proceedings does allow for some very limited forms of relief: credible fear and reasonable fear interviews, to ascertain if a person would qualify for asylum, withholding of removal or relief under Convention Against Torture. However, previous changes to these procedures coupled with the changes to asylum regulations/procedures make it very hard for a person to be able to present a meaningful defense.

If you have questions regarding removal proceedings, expired status or possible defenses from removal, please reach out for a consultation at 917-885-2261.