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US Experiments in Texas with Plan to Speed Asylum Decisions

Associated Press

   EL PASO, TEXAS - U.S. immigration authorities are testing a program to
   speed up reviews of asylum claims at a Texas Border Patrol station,
   offering a glimpse of how the Trump administration may enforce its
   partial asylum ban.

   The pilot project, called the "Prompt Asylum Case Review" system, began
   Oct. 7 in El Paso, with a goal of having a decision by an immigration
   judge within 10 days, according to a senior Department of Homeland
   Security official who spoke on condition of anonymity because details
   of the program have not been made public. Mexicans are exempt.

   The rollout has not been publicly announced, leading to complaints by
   attorneys that they have no access to clients and are left in the dark.

   "The most concerning part here is we have not received any official
   word from Border Patrol and it seems to be purposeful that they have
   not told the (non-governmental organizations) what's going on," Linda
   Rivas, executive director of Las Americas Advocacy Center, said in a
   conference call Monday with reporters.

   Taylor Levy, an immigration attorney in El Paso, said lawyers cannot
   enter Border Patrol holding centers, which are designed to keep people
   no more than 72 hours. She learned about the pilot from an attorney who
   was unable to reach her two clients, both women from El Salvador with
   infants who crossed the border Oct. 8.

   An immigration judge denied their appeals by phone meaning the judge
   couldn't see documents including proof of death threats they faced in
   El Salvador. One woman has been deported and another is waiting to be
   sent home.

   The pilot is designed to give asylum seekers 24 hours of access to a
   phone in a private room before an initial asylum screening, but
   attorneys said the rules are unclear and that they received no notice
   or instructions. If asylum seekers fail the screening, they can appeal
   to judges in Otero, New Mexico, by phone.

   Its launch comes as the administration expands another effort to
   address a surge in asylum seekers: sending them back to Mexico to wait
   while their cases wind through U.S. immigration courts. Homeland
   Security said Monday that it extended its "Migration Protection
   Protocols" policy - also known as "Remain in Mexico" - to Eagle Pass,
   Texas, its sixth location. The U.S. says more than 55,000 people have
   been made to wait in Mexico since the policy was introduced in January.

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