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The Attorney General, Merrick Garland , ended this Wednesday one of the most criticized immigration policies of the former president Donald Trump , which prevented accepting asylum requests from people who claimed Gang Persecution or Domestic Violence .
Acting Director of Citizenship and Immigration Services ( USCIS ), Tracy Renaud, welcomed the decision and pointed out that instructions have already been issued to the officers who review this type of petitions to stop rejecting them and consider them credible.
. “We applaud the decisions of the Attorney General today that annuls two previous decisions that limited the eligibility of and asylum for people fleeing violence perpetrated by couples or due to family relationships in their countries of origin ”, he indicated. “ We have indicated our officers no longer taken into consideration decisions annulled and we are working quickly to provide specific guidance and integral to our workforce to align our policies “.
Renaud highlights that policy change is part of the philosophy of the president’s government Joe Biden , which has ordered the establishment of rules that offer options to legal immigration.
“USCIS se is committed to embracing our nation’s highest values by expanding legal migration pathways and administering humanitarian programs that allow greater access to protection for eligible individuals. ”
In June of 2018, then Attorney General J eff Sessions ordered immigration judges to reject asylum requests of those immigrants who allege gang or domestic violence , considering that these are “private crimes”, which were not grounds for granting the immigration benefit.
“In general, claims from foreigners related to domestic violence or gang violence perpetrated by non-governmental actors will not qualify for asylum,” he considered. “The mere fact that a country has problems effectively monitoring certain crimes, such as domestic violence or gang violence, or that certain populations are more prone to being victims of a crime, cannot by itself establish an application for asylum. ”.
In May of this year, the Department of Justice, on which the immigration courts (EOIR) depend, established that in 10 cities where the main asylum cases: Denver, Detroit, El Paso, Los Angeles, Miami, Newark, New York, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.
Judges should issue a decision within 300 days after the immigrant’s initial hearing.
