Trump Administration Publishes a New Final Rule Adding New Asylum Bars

The Trump Administration has published its latest attack on asylum seekers by proposing new asylum bars. These rules are scheduled to go into effect on November 20, 2020 and will amend the codified federal regulations that govern eligibility for asylum.

Under the new regulations, seven new criminal bars will prevent certain applicants from being eligible for asylum. From November 20 onward, the following crimes will bar an applicant from asylum:

  • Smuggling of a person across the border (INA 274(a)(1)(A))

  • Harboring of a person without documentation (INA 274(a)(2))

  • Any crime the adjudicator knows or has reason to believe that it was committed in support, promotion, or furtherance of a street gang

  • First time DUI where serious bodily injury or death of another person occurred

  • Second or subsequent offense DUI whether a felony or misdemeanor

  • Conviction of a crime that involves conduct amounting to crime of stalking; crime of child abuse, child neglect, or child abandonment; or that involves conduct amounting to a domestic assault or battery offense) or any crime based on conduct in which the person harassed, coerced, intimidated, voluntarily or recklessly used (or threatened to use) force or violence against, or inflicted physical injury or physical pain, however slight, upon a person and committed by a person with a domestic relationship

  • If an adjudicator knows or has reason to believe that an individual engaged in conduct that could amount to battery or extreme cruelty in a domestic relationship

  • Any felony conviction

  • Any misdemeanor conviction that involved fraudulent identity documents, public benefits fraud, or any drug possession or trafficking offense other than a single marijuana possession offense of 30 grams or less

Further, these regulations alter the definition of a conviction for immigration purposes to include any attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit an offense. If the proposed regulations go into effect, an order vacating or modifying a conviction will have no bearing on immigration consequences unless the adjudicator determines the court had jurisdiction to issue the order and it was not entered for rehabilitative purposes or for purposes of ameliorating immigration consequences. An order would be presumed to be for rehabilitative purposes or for purposes of ameliorating immigration consequences if it was entered after the initiation of removal proceedings or more than one year after the date of the original order.

AAN Admin