US president’s directive cuts asylum hearings short

The Trump administration has introduced a controversial new policy that urges immigration judges to swiftly deny asylum applications deemed unlikely to succeed, bypassing the usual hearing process.

The directive, issued by the Justice Department on April 11, aims to reduce the backlog of nearly four million pending immigration cases in the United States, Caliber.Az reports citing foreign media.

Under the new guidelines, judges are instructed to drop "legally deficient" asylum cases without conducting a hearing. This approach could lead to deportation orders being issued before applicants have a chance to present their cases in detail.

The guidance emphasizes that adjudicators must “efficiently manage their dockets,” a sentiment echoed by Sirce Owen, acting director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review, who wrote in the memo: “It is clear from the almost four million pending cases on E.O.I.R.’s docket that has not been happening.”

The memo also states that judges should take “all appropriate action to immediately resolve cases on their dockets that do not have viable legal paths for relief or protection from removal.” As a result, the new policy would likely expedite deportations without fully allowing applicants to testify or provide supporting evidence in what are known as merit hearings.

Immigration judges, employees of the Justice Department, are expected to follow this new directive despite concerns that it may undermine the integrity of the asylum process. Lenni Benson, a professor of immigration law at New York Law School, warned, “Immigration judges must use independent judgment, and under the statutes and existing regulations, they must allow a person to submit, supplement and testify to the facts supporting their request for asylum.”

The policy change could disproportionately impact asylum seekers without legal representation, as roughly half of applicants navigate the process without a lawyer.

“Navigating a foreign legal system in a foreign language without legal counsel makes it more than likely that applicants may inadvertently submit incomplete asylum petitions,” said Careen Shannon, an immigration lawyer.

“The outcome for an asylum seeker can literally make the difference between life or death,” she said.

By Vafa Guliyeva