Trump administration scaling back asylum crackdown, sources say

The Trump medication is scaling backmost a crackdown connected asylum that brought hundreds of thousands of migration applications to a halt, 2 Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS News.

In precocious November, aft the shooting of 2 National Guard members successful Washington, D.C., allegedly astatine the hands of an Afghan antheral who had been granted asylum successful 2025, the Trump medication enacted a intermission connected asylum cases overseen by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. One of those National Guard members died from her injuries.

The unprecedented move, which the Trump medication argued was indispensable to code nationalist information concerns, amounted to an indefinite suspension of each asylum requests filed extracurricular of migration court, careless of the applicant's nationality.

But the medication has decided to assistance the asylum adjudication intermission for astir cases, but for those filed by nationals from countries affected by a travel prohibition oregon steep migration restrictions stemming from a erstwhile proclamation by President Trump, the DHS sources said, requesting anonymity to picture an interior program that had not been formally announced.

The asylum frost volition stay successful spot for immigrants from 39 nations whose citizens presently look afloat oregon partial introduction restrictions nether the "travel ban" proclamation, which Mr. Trump expanded successful December. That database includes African countries similar Senegal, Somalia and Nigeria; Asian nations similar Afghanistan, Iran and Laos; and Latin American countries similar Cuba, Haiti and Venezuela. 

In a connection to CBS News connected Sunday, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed "USCIS has lifted the adjudicative clasp for thoroughly screened asylum seekers from non high-risk countries."

"This determination allows resources to absorption connected continued rigorous nationalist information and nationalist information vetting for higher-risk cases," DHS said, adding that the administration's "maximum screening and vetting for ALL aliens continues unabated." 

The Trump medication has besides frozen each different ineligible migration applications filed by nationals of the 39 nations listed connected the "travel ban," including requests for enactment permits, greenish cards and adjacent American citizenship. That suspension, which was besides enacted aft the shooting of the National Guard soldiers successful Washington, remains successful place.

The intermission successful asylum and different migration cases is 1 of respective policies the 2nd Trump medication has rolled retired to tighten the ineligible U.S. migration system. The medication has besides sought to restrict enactment permits for asylum-seekers and to reexamine the cases of ineligible refugees admitted nether the Biden administration.

Trump medication officials person said their policies are designed to combat migration fraud and nationalist information concerns, and bolster vetting procedures they judge became excessively lax nether the Biden administration. Pro-immigration advocates, meanwhile, person accused the medication of punishing ineligible immigrants who are complying with migration rules.