U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services increase their requisites for asylum requests

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration services have recently drastically changed the requisites for asylum-seekers. From now on, they will ask for more direct and specific proof that immigrants are escaping violence from their countries and that their government is indifferent towards their situation and supporting the abuse.

This will create large complications for immigrants from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala since they are usually targets of street violence, which is hard to present as government-backed abuse towards them. The department is seeking for very specific evidence, stating that merely proving that the government is struggling to police the subject is not enough. They also have reminded immigrants that people who choose to enter the U.S. by sneaking in will likely have their asylum applications denied.

A spokesperson from the department stated why they have chosen to become more strict, stating: “Our laws do not offer protection against instances of violence based on personal, private conflict that is not on account of a protected ground.” The decision for the limitations has also been attributed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who explained that the U.S. asylum laws are too generous and that the country cannot help every person facing difficulties around the globe.

He also stated that he wanted to bring asylum back to its original understanding, being only offered for people persecuted for their religion, ethnicity or political beliefs. However, as the world now faces a vastly different set of problems and dangers towards Central American citizens, restraining asylum to its original perception can be a highly inappropriate approach and one that doesn’t take into consideration current world issues.

Many security analysts have stated that asylum has become an unclear and vague concept during the last decade, with some people winning charges over spousal abuse or dangerous neighborhoods. This caused for asylum-seeker immigrants to drastically increase throughout the decade, with now over ten percent of immigrants are asking for the services when arriving at the U.S. The increase also caused for there to be more applications denied, with only three percent of asylum-seekers receiving the protection they wanted.

Sometimes, after showing a “credible fear” of going back home, immigrants may get released to nearby communities, where they can apply for work permits and taxpayer benefits. Many people who encouraged immigrants to seek asylum, even started giving advice on which exact words to use since those terms were more likely to get their application accepted.

However, the “credible fear” claims that were part of the Trump administration’s previous approach to the “zero tolerance” policy will now be rejected and deemed as not enough of an excuse for asylum. The guidance is clear with the limited amount of people that must be let into the U.S. from now on, stating: “Few gang-based or domestic-violence claims involving particular social groups defined by the members’ vulnerability to harm may merit a grant of asylum or refugee status.”

This approach is also similar to the rhetoric used by Vice President Mike Pence during his trip to Brazil, where he warned the immigrants directly by saying: “If you can’t come legally, don’t come at all”. The statement was deemed as contradictory, as minutes before he had stated that the U.S. is “the most welcoming home for immigrants in human history.”

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