Washington, DC – Greg Chen, Senior Director of Government Relations for the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) responded to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, which would give authority to asylum officers to apply existing security and terrorism-related bars to asylum seekers at the initial asylum screening, known as the credible fear interview (CFI) with the following:
"While the bars are an important feature of our immigration laws to ensure that dangerous individuals are not allowed into the country, it is vital that they be accurately applied where warranted. This change could make the process faster by excluding people who would not be entitled to stay. However, due process will likely be eroded by accelerating what is a highly complex legal analysis needed for these bars and conducting them at the preliminary CFI screening. At that early stage, few asylum seekers will have the opportunity to seek legal counsel or time to understand the consequences of a bar being applied. Under the current process, they have more time to seek legal advice, to prepare their case, and to appeal it or seek an exemption. Ultimately to establish a fair and orderly process at the border, Congress needs to provide the Department of Homeland Security with the resources to meet its mission and also ensure the truly vulnerable are not summarily denied protection without due process. AILA will submit a formal comment on the proposed regulation."
