DHS/IMMIGRATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration said Wednesday [1-31-18] it would prioritize asylum applications from people who have most recently entered the U.S., an effort to quickly deport those without valid claims and discourage others from coming. The change turns a critical piece of immigration policy on its head by handling new asylum arrivals first, instead of sending them to the back of a long line.
Under the previous asylum policy, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security, considered applications in the order in which they were filed. Because there is a large backlog of cases, the result is people can wait years for a decision. While they wait, they are allowed to live and sometimes work in the U.S.
The backlog—which now stands at 311,000 pending cases—allows new unauthorized border crossers to stay in the U.S. if they can pass a test showing they have a ‘credible fear’ of persecution in their home countries. Many of these migrants turn themselves into border-patrol agents, believing they will be allowed to stay. The Trump administration argues that many of their claims are fraudulent and is seeking to discourage them from crossing… Under the new policy, first priority will go to applications in which an interview had to be rescheduled, followed by applications that have been pending for 21 days or fewer. After that, the agency will consider applications starting with the newest filings and working backwards.
The change returns the agency to the process in place until December 2014, when the Obama administration decided to prioritize the oldest cases.”
-Laura Meckler, “U.S. to Prioritize Recent Asylum Applications,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 31, 2018 05:38pm