JEFF SESSIONS/LEGAL/LGBTQ: “Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Thursday [10-12-17] that the administration wants to overhaul a variety of laws and regulations to make the process of applying for asylum in the U.S. more difficult, and to crack down on what he described as rampant fraud within that realm of the immigration system.
Among the necessary changes, he said, are revisions of an antitrafficking statute that governs how unaccompanied children are treated.
People seeking asylum typically must first establish that they are fleeing their home countries because they have ‘credible fear’ of persecution or violence…
The attorney general said smugglers, who he said coach immigrants to say ‘the magic words,’ and ‘dirty immigration lawyers,’ who he said have encouraged immigrants to file false asylum claims, have overburdened the system.
Little proof is required of immigrants making an initial claim of fear about returning to their home country, Mr. Sessions said, and fraud and flaws in the system have led to rapid increases in asylum requests at the border.”
-Alicia A. Caldwell, “Sessions Expands on Trump Plan to Toughen Asylum Process,” The Wall Street Journal online, Oct. 12, 2017 06:25pm