Washington: The Trump administration has launched a nationwide campaign to reject the asylum claims of thousands of immigrants in immigration courts. The Trump administration is arguing that asylum seekers can be deported to countries that are not their own, meaning they can be sent to a third country.
Several immigration lawyers and certified legal representatives told a news agency that this effort has been intensifying in recent weeks. It is worth mentioning that asylum seekers in Atlanta, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Texas and other places across the US have approached immigration courts and the number of these pending cases is increasing.
It is worth noting that immigration courts are not part of the judicial branch but are administrative bodies run by the Justice Department that oversee the cases of people who are deported from the country.
The administration’s new strategy, which allows asylum seekers to say they are seeking asylum out of fear of persecution in their home countries, allows them to be sent to other countries instead of their own, a move the Trump administration is working on.
The White House, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. The report said that under the administration’s new strategy, ICE lawyers have asked immigration judges to dismiss asylum cases without hearing them on the merits.
The report added that ICE lawyers have also asked judges to order asylum seekers to be sent to countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and Uganda. The report comes as President Donald Trump prepares to take a new immigration action next year.