Pattern or Practice of Persecution

by Jason Dzubow

Recently, I have been presenting a new argument for my female asylum clients from Afghanistan–that if they return to their country, they face a “pattern or practice” of persecution. Under the Taliban government, women in Afghanistan cannot pursue an education or work in many professions, they cannot travel abroad or safely leave the house without a male companion, the government will not protect them from forced marriage or domestic abuse. For these reasons, the argument goes, any woman who lives in Afghanistan will suffer persecution. Ergo and ipso facto (to use some fancy lawyer language), every Afghan woman in the U.S. should qualify for asylum.

A similar argument could be made about asylum seekers from many different countries. Such a claim is particularly helpful where the applicant did not personally face any threats or harm, and so might otherwise have a weak case for protection under United States immigration law.

In this post, we will discuss the meaning of “pattern or practice” in the asylum context, who might benefit from this argument, and how to present such a claim. (more…)

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More Unsolicited Advice for the Asylum Office

by Jason Dzubow

Dear Asylum Office –

Did you ever have an annoying friend who keeps wanting to tell you what’s what? Who couldn’t accept that you’re not interested in his advice about how to improve your life? Who blathers on about this-and-that without noticing that you’ve nodded off? I get it. But here I am anyway. The fact is, my dear Asylum Office, you’re a mess and something needs to be done.

Please don’t misunderstand when I say that you’re a mess. I am speaking as a friend. Or maybe a frenemy. According to your own data, there are now (as of December 2021) more than 438,500 cases pending at our nation’s Asylum Offices. Many applicants have been waiting for years without an interview and with no real hope of receiving a decision any time soon. The good news is that you’ve hired 80 brand-spankin’ new officers to interview older (pre-2016) cases. But the concern is that these officers will not be used efficiently or fairly. Luckily, I am here to offer some unsolicited advice about maximizing efficiency and protecting due process of law. (more…)

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Top 10 Ways to Know If the Immigration Court Phone Line Has Been Hacked

by Jason Dzubow

We learned last week that hackers have been using the Arlington Immigration Court phone number to make “spoof” calls requesting personal information from the recipients. EOIR (the Executive Office for Immigration Review – the office that oversees the Immigration Courts) warns that, to “protect yourself, be wary of answering phone calls from numbers you do not recognize” and never “give out your personal information over the phone to individuals you do not know.” Good advice. But how do you know whether a call from the Immigration Court is, in fact, fraudulent?

Fear not, for I stand ready to assist. Below are the top ten ways to know whether a phone call from EOIR is a “spoof” or the real deal. If you receive any of the following calls, hang up immediately because it ain’t the Immigration Court– (more…)

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Remembering Immigration Judge David Crosland

by Jason Dzubow

I was very sorry to learn recently about the death of Immigration Judge David Crosland. Judge Crosland had been an Immigration Judge since 1997. I first met him when he arrived in Arlington, Virginia in about 2008. He later transferred to the Baltimore Immigration Court. Over the years, I have had many cases with Judge Crosland. In fact, I was scheduled to see him for an Individual Hearing tomorrow, for an Iraqi woman seeking protection from militias and terrorists in her home country.

Judge Crosland had his own style. Unlike most IJs, he started his hearings by questioning the applicants about their activities and instances of harm. Once he finished and established a framework for the case, he would turn things over to the applicant’s attorney. We then had to build on his framework (and often correct issues that came up during his questioning). While this was a challenging way to present a case, and left us with more uncertainty about how the direct examination would go, it also allowed Judge Crosland to hone in on aspects of the case that were of most concern to him. I will say that this was not my favorite way to present a case, and applicants were often confused by the IJ’s questions (and his soft voice). Nevertheless, Judge Crosland almost always “got it right” and it was hard for me to disagree with his decisions, even if we did not get the outcome we wanted. (more…)

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Help Is on the Way for Asylum Seekers in the Backlog + a Humble Request for the Asylum Office

by Jason Dzubow

It’s the rare occasion when I can report some good news, but it seems that USCIS is taking action to help people in the affirmative asylum backlog. According to the most recent data (from December 2021), there are about 438,500 cases pending at the Asylum Office. The large majority of these applicants have not yet received interviews. Now, USCIS has hired an additional 80 Asylum Officers who will be dedicated to interviewing applicants who filed for asylum on or before January 1, 2016, meaning that they will be interviewing asylum seekers who have been waiting the longest.

Here, we’ll discuss what this means for those applicants, and also for people who filed after January 1, 2016. I’ll also make some suggestions about how to schedule these interviews in a way that is fair to applicants and to their lawyers (i.e., I will beg USCIS to have mercy on us). (more…)

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President Trump’s Immigration Team: Where Are They Now?

by Jason Dzubow

They say that time wounds all heels. In the case of President Trump’s immigration advisors–who implemented racist and anti-Muslim policies, separated parents from children, and generally tried to destroy due process of law in our immigration system–that old saw is largely dis-proven, at least for most of the people we’ve managed to track down. A year and half after Mr. Trump left office, many of his senior advisors seem to be doing just fine. Some have retired. Others have moved on to (seemingly) lucrative employment in high-level private sector positions. Here, we’ll catch up with a few of our old friends from the prior Administration, and find out: Where are they now? (more…)

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Asylum Office Finally Releases New-ish Statistics

by Jason Dzubow

Back in 2019, the Trump Administration ended the long-standing practice of releasing data about our nation’s Asylum Offices. The Biden Administration has not seemed particularly eager to restore transparency, but now, a year and a half after President Biden took office, we finally have some new data from the Asylum Division. Mind you, the data is only current as of December 31, 2021, but we are told more information will be released soon. Since “soon” in asylum world tends to mean “not any time soon,” I’ve decided to write about the information we have now, rather than wait for a second data dump, which may or may not be released in the near future.

The new data gives us a lot to discuss and sheds some light on why cases are moving so slowly. It also raises questions about how the asylum system is working–or not working. (more…)

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Don’t Forget to Update Your I-589

by Jason Dzubow

It’s common these days to find asylum seekers at the Asylum Office and in Immigration Court who filed their asylum application, form I-589, five, six, seven or more years ago. During that time, some information on the form becomes out of date. Also, new events occur which need to be added to the form. What is the best and most efficient way to update your asylum application at the Asylum Office and in court? (more…)

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Second Interviews at the Asylum Office

by Jason Dzubow

Though I haven’t seen any data to back this up, it seems to me that second interviews at the Asylum Office are becoming more common. I’ve been hearing reports about second (or third) interviews from others and we are seeing it in our own practice as well. In this post, we will talk about the second interview: Why is it needed? What happens at a second interview? How should you prepare? (more…)

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Are Asylum Seekers in the United States Safe from Their Persecutors?

by Jason Dzubow

The United States has long been a haven for political refugees. But there are examples of operatives from the home government tracking, harming, and killing political opponents who have come to the U.S. for protection.

Probably the most famous example occurred only a few blocks from my office, in Sheridan Circle in 1976, when Chilean dissident Orlando Letelier and his American assistant Ronni Moffitt were killed by a car bomb. Mr. Letelier held a number of top government jobs in Chile during the Salvador Allende government, but after President Allende was ousted in a coup (and murdered along with thousands of others), Mr. Letelier was detained and tortured by the new government, led by Augusto Pinochet. Thanks to international pressure, Mr. Letelier was released and made his way to the U.S. Here, he worked and lobbied against the Pinochet regime. These activities brought him to the attention of Pinochet supporters and the Chilean secret police, who organized the assassination with help from several anti-Castro Cubans. Mr. Letelier and Ms. Moffitt were killed when a bomb planted in their car exploded. Ms. Moffitt’s husband was injured. Ultimately, a number of Chileans and Cubans were charged in relation to the murders, though none served more than a few years in prison. (more…)

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Prosecutorial Discretion in Immigration Court

by Jason Dzubow

The Department of Homeland Security (the prosecutor in Immigration Court) has been implementing new rules related to its “enforcement priorities.” These rules apply to people who have cases pending in Immigration Court, meaning that the U.S. government is trying to deport them. Not surprisingly, the government wants to deport some people more than others. Under the new rules, cases that are not a priority for removal may be dismissed as a matter of prosecutorial discretion or PD. When that happens, the government has stopped the removal/deportation process and the noncitizen is able to remain in the United States.

Here, we’ll talk about who might qualify for PD, the different types of PD, and how to request PD from DHS. (more…)

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Traveling With Your Passport When You Have Asylum

by Jason Dzubow

A common question for asylees (people who have been granted asylum) is whether they can travel using their home country passport. If all were right in the world, this would never be an issue. Asylees and Green Card holders who received their status based on asylum are eligible for a Refugee Travel Document, and it is best to use the RTD instead of your home country passport.

Unfortunately, the RTD is valid for only one year, takes 10 or 11 months to renew, and is not accepted by many countries. For these reasons, asylees (and people who received a Green Card based on asylum) are often unable to use the RTD and are left with a difficult choice: Either skip the trip or travel using the home country passport, which can potentially have negative implications for a person’s status in the United States.

In this post, we will talk about the RTD and then discuss travel using a passport from your home country. (more…)

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The Biden Administration Can “Fix” the Border–Even Without Congress

by Jason Dzubow

In a recent editorial, the Washington Post opined that Congress’s failure to pass immigration reform has led to the ongoing crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. But even without Congress, the Biden Administration can use its regulatory power to better define the term “refugee” and thus better control who is eligible to enter the United States under our asylum law. (more…)

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Good News on Work Permits

by Jason Dzubow

A new rule in the federal register has temporarily increased the automatic extension period for Employment Authorization Documents (“EADs”) for asylum seekers and others from 180 days to 540 days. The 540-day extension applies to anyone with a pending EAD renewal, even those whose EAD and 180-day extension have already expired. This means that all asylum seekers with timely-filed renewals are able to work lawfully for 540 days beyond the expiration date on their current EAD card.

Starting on May 4, 2022, EAD receipts for certain categories–including c-8, asylum pending–will list the 540-day extension on the receipt itself. USCIS has also updated its website to reflect that EAD receipts listing the 180-day extension have been extended by an additional 360 days, to 540 days total. USCIS will not be sending out new receipts, and so if you need proof of the automatic extension for your employer or the DMV, you can show them this web page. In order to qualify for the automatic extension, you must file to renew your current EAD before it expires.                       (more…)

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