Immigrant Rights Groups Sue to Protect Due Process for Asylum Seekers
National Immigrant Justice Center press release:
"Today, immigration legal service providers and advocacy organizations filed a federal lawsuit challenging a new interim final rule that allows U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to send people seeking asylum directly to immigration court without first assessing their legal claims in an affirmative asylum interview.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC), the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS), and Human Rights First on behalf of Immigration Equality, Oasis Legal Services, HIAS, and the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project. The organizational plaintiffs represent thousands of people with affirmative asylum applications pending before USCIS.
The new rule allows asylum officers to refer cases to immigration court for deportation proceedings, based only on their written application, without ever speaking to the asylum seeker about the persecution they fled. The rule took effect July 28, 2026, and applies to new and pending applications."
Click link above for more of the press release.
