Trump makes asylum increasingly hard to obtain in the United States

As thousands of citizens take to the streets to protest against mass deportations in the United States, the Trump administration is looking for ways to increase them. Part of this effort includes eliminating asylum or reducing it to a bare minimum. The latest move involves pressuring immigration judges to fast-track the dismissal of cases. According to NBC, the Department of Justice has sent a memo to judges urging them to swiftly dismiss cases upon oral request from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

“Oral Decisions must be completed within the same hearing slot on the day testimony and arguments are concluded,” says the memo, which is dated May 30. It also tells the judges that “[n]o additional documentation or briefing is required” to grant the dismissals.

If an asylum case is denied, the migrant is left at the mercy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who wait outside the courts to detain and deport them.

Asylum is the mechanism through which individuals who are persecuted because of their nationality, race, religion, political opinions, or membership in a particular social group can be admitted into the United States. Migrants can request it upon crossing the border. Other foreign nationals who entered with temporary permits, such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or humanitarian parole — both programs canceled by the government — typically choose to apply for asylum before their permits expire. Asylum offers a path to obtaining permanent residency and even U.S. citizenship.

These cases are difficult to win, but several measures adopted by the Trump administration have caused a surge in asylum denials. In March, 76% of applications were rejected, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University. “In a record-breaking month, immigration judges fast-tracked asylum denials at a record pace, raising questions about the future of the asylum system,” said Austin Kocher, an assistant professor at Syracuse University.

No work permit

The government is also planning to eliminate work permits for asylum seekers, which would leave millions of people and their families without a means of support. This was revealed last week in an exclusive report by CBS, based on information from two sources within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Suspending work permits for asylum seekers could push migrants into the underground economy. Current legislation, dating back to the 1990s, allows them to apply for a work permit 150 days after filing their asylum application, and they can receive it after 30 more days. Since it is not uncommon for cases to take years to resolve, applicants are able to have a source of income to support their families as they wait for their asylum application to be processed.

During his first term, Trump had attempted to undermine the asylum process by extending the waiting period for a work permit to one year instead of the standard 150 days. The Biden administration later reversed that change and restored the original time period.

Trump’s crusade against immigration has resulted in many newly arrived migrants at the border being deported — even to third countries — before they can file their asylum applications. Migrants with ongoing legal proceedings have also been expelled, such as the case of Daniel Lozano-Camargo, a 20-year-old Venezuelan who was deported to El Salvador despite a judge having prohibited his removal until his case was resolved.

“There’s a perception that trying to come here isn’t worth it, as it’s a very risky project,” said Paul Christian Namphy, organizing director of Family Action Network Movement (FANM), a migrant advocacy organization. “This administration’s idea of deterring people seems to be succeeding. For us, the price of this success is cruelty, the mistreatment of millions of immigrants.”

Eliminating asylum has been one of Trump’s top priorities in his effort to combat what he described as an “invasion” of foreigners during Joe Biden’s administration. In 2024, Biden already restricted the asylum process in response to accusations that he was allowing an open border. These measures drastically reduced migrant entries. To curb illegal crossings, Biden implemented several programs, which the Republican has since dismantled.

One of those programs was CBP One, which was eliminated by Trump in one of the series of executive orders he signed on his first day back in the White House. This program allowed migrants to schedule appointments to appear before an immigration court and request asylum.

In April, the Trump administration sent an email to individuals who had entered the country through one of these appointments, announcing the revocation of their residency and work permits. They were ordered to leave the country immediately. Nearly one million people entered the U.S. through CBP One since Biden launched it in January 2023.

Guidelines for judges

The new guidelines for immigration judges reflect the increasing pressure to facilitate expedited deportations — removals carried out without a formal court order. In April, the administration shook the immigration court system by urging judges to reject asylum claims without holding a hearing, leaving applicants without the opportunity to present their case. An internal memo signed by the acting director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR), Sirce Owen, announced the new “legal standards” empowering judges to review and deny “legally insufficient” asylum cases. The new directives require immigration judges to take “all appropriate actions to immediately resolve cases on their dockets that do not have viable legal paths for relief or protection from removal.”

The Trump administration accused Biden for allowing the asylum system to be abused by migrants fleeing their countries for reasons not recognized under asylum law, such as economic hardship. Although the former president succeeded in reducing border encounters through the CBP One app, the immigration courts remain overwhelmed.

The EOIR has a backlog of over 3.7 million cases, most of them related to asylum. At the beginning of Trump’s first term, there were 520,000 unresolved cases. By the start of Biden’s term, that number had risen to 1.2 million. Meanwhile, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is handling approximately 1.5 million asylum applications, while immigration courts are managing just over 2 million. Trump has promised to address the court backlog, but in February, he dismissed around 20 immigration judges as part of the administration’s staff cuts.

The crackdown on asylum has intensified with other recent measures, such as the travel ban on citizens from 12 countries. The list includes Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Venezuela, and Cuba — nations where many citizens meet the criteria for asylum due to persecution in their home countries.

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