Wikimedia Commons — “Will US asylum seekers finally be treated fairly, humanely, and in accordance with full due process? Or is the Biden Administration’s recent “plan” just another “designed to fail enforcement gimmick” masquerading as legitimate asylum policy? Only time — and the details — will tell!
I found the White House “Fact Sheet” to be largely a mix of bureaucratic doublespeak, shame, blame, and few details about how it’s actually going to work. Also, not much about who is going to be responsible (and accountable) for making it work!
Here it is, so you can judge for yourself:
Here are some of my questions:
- Will those whose cases are denied by an Asylum Officer still have a right to IJ/BIA/Judicial Review?
- How will they set up dedicated dockets without pushing back cases already on the docket?
- What steps will be taken to insure that Judges assigned to these dockets aren’t members of the “90% Denial Club?”
- How will they screen asylum cases with Title 42 still in effect?
- What will be the role of detention? If detention is used, how will reasonable access to counsel be be guaranteed in detention centers?
- Who will be training the CBP Agents, Asylum Offices, and Immigration Judges to recognize asylum claims, even those that might not be well-articulated by migrants or that might involve novel applications of protection laws?
- What advance coordination will take place with legal services groups to maximize representation.
- How will positive asylum guidance be issued (given that the BIA has issued almost none in the past four years, and a number of negative precedents have been vacated by the AG or rejected by various Circuits)?
- How will the success of this program be measured, particularly with respect to insuring full due process and fundamental fairness to all asylum applicants?
- What type of resettlement opportunities or assistance will be made available for successful asylum, seekers and who will provide and fund it?
- Will there be any role for the UNHCR? If so, what?
- How will DHS and EOIR solve the “effective notice problems” that have plagued the Immigration Court system for years and resulted in far too many “bogus in absentia removal orders.”
- Who will insure the accuracy of statistics and that “gamed” or manipulated statistics are not used (as the Trump regime did) to create false narratives about “success” by the Administration or to promote unfair and inaccurate “myths” about asylum seekers.
🇺🇸Due Process Forever!
PWS
07-29-21