New Asylum Restrictions

According to the Department of Justice and Homeland Security, the southern border has been overwhelmed with asylum applicants in the past year. There are nearly 436,000 pending asylum applications that have yet to be decided.

The Supreme Court of the United States rendered a decision this past week that would prohibit migrants who have resided in or have traveled through a third country from seeking asylum in the United States. The policy is meant to deny those individuals who have not first sought protection in the countries they have traveled through before seeking asylum in the United States. This particular decision will directly limit the ability of many individuals, particularly migrants coming from Central America.

The attempts of a California federal judge to issue a nationwide injunction against asylum limits were impeded by the 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court was called in to rule on this matter considering the case was bouncing around lower courts. After the Supreme Court rendered its decision allowing the asylum restrictions, Justice Sotomayor described the conduct as a “side-step of the ordinary judicial process.”

Only five justices of the Supreme Court were needed to grant the request. Justice Sotomayor and Ginsburg dissented, and openly expressed their reasonings. Both Justices took the position that enforcing such a rule would turn longstanding practices regarding refugees seeking asylum upside down. In fact, Justice Sotomayor criticized how the implementation of the new regulation was done without having obtained the opinion of the public, which is generally sought.

Considering the new asylum restrictions, it is important to be aware of how that will affect the asylum seeking process. While obtaining asylum is not impossible, it is critical to have the knowledge of well-seasoned immigration attorneys on your side to help you through the lengthy process. Attorneys at Theus Law Offices have successfully assisted clients in the asylum seeking process.

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