asylum

National

The Justice Department Overturns Policy That Limited Asylum For Survivors Of Violence

7:24pm June 16, 2021

by Joel Rose

In a victory for survivors of domestic and gang violence, the Department of Justice on Wednesday vacated the controversial Trump-era decisions.

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Clive Thompson reads aloud the letter that means he and his wife, Oneita, no longer need to fear deportation. They are joined by their son, Timothy, 15.

National

'All Our Opportunity Was Taken Away': Sanctuary Family Slowly Restarts Life

5:00am May 13, 2021

by Laura Benshoff

The Thompsons, originally from Jamaica, spent 843 days living in churches in Philadelphia to avoid deportation. Now they are free, but reentry comes with new challenges.

Ms. A.B. had been allowed to stay in the U.S. for years while her case is pending. She requested that NPR identify her only by her initials because she is afraid her ex-husband might find her.

Domestic Abuse Survivors Fear Deportation Under Trump Policy Biden Has Yet To Reverse

5:08am April 30, 2021

by Joel Rose

Immigrant advocates want those asylum protections restored quickly, erasing Trump-era restrictions. "Women, children, families are being sent back to the very dangers that they fled," one lawyer says.

Ajo, a former copper mining town more than 100 miles from Phoenix, is unincorporated. The U.S. government began dropping off migrants on the historic plaza in Ajo in March.

National

Why The U.S. Government Is Dropping Off Migrants In Rural Arizona Towns

6:59pm April 15, 2021

by Kirk Siegler

The Border Patrol says the pandemic limits how many people they can safely hold at facilities. Officials say funding and jurisdiction issues also prevent them from transporting migrants to cities.

President Biden is set to sign a series of executive actions on immigration — steps mean to unwind some of the actions taken by his predecessor.

Politics & Government

Here Are The Immigration Actions President Biden Plans To Sign

11:31am February 02, 2021

by Franco Ordoñez

President Biden has been working to unwind many of the executive actions taken by former President Donald Trump. But the administration has warned that the changes will take time.

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Cuban migrants block the Paso del Norte-Santa Fe international bridge between Mexico and the United States, to demand that the Trump administration allow them to wait for their asylum process on U.S. soil, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Dec. 29, 2020.

Asylum Seekers Hope Biden's Pledge To Welcome Immigrants Includes Them

10:18am January 23, 2021

by John Burnett

One of the most daunting immigration challenges facing the Biden administration is what to do about the multitudes of migrants who want asylum protection in the United States.

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A former FARC guerrilla member waves a FARC political party flag during a demonstration in Bogota on Nov. 2. A federal court overturned an asylum decision Wednesday, holding that FARC death threats counted as persecution.×

National

Death Threats, Even In Writing, Can Be Grounds For Asylum, Appeals Court Says

10:37pm November 26, 2020

by Matthew S. Schwartz

The court overturned a Justice Department decision denying the asylum of a former Colombia police officer who received multiple death threats from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Honduran migrants walking in a group stop before Guatemalan police in January near Agua Caliente, Guatemala. The Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says U.S. immigration agents in Guatemala helped officials deport Hondurans traveli

Democratic Lawmakers Denounce DHS 'Ad Hoc' Migrant Deportations In Guatemala

4:23pm October 29, 2020

by Carrie Kahn

Democratic lawmakers are demanding more information from the Trump administration about U.S. agents working in Guatemala to round up Honduran migrants and send them to the Guatemala-Honduras border.

A U.S. district judge disagrees with the Trump administration's argument that U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees are adequately trained to screen asylum claims.

National

'Poppycock!': Federal Judge Bars CBP Employees From Screening Asylum-Seekers

10:26am September 01, 2020

by Vanessa Romo

"The training requirements cited in the government's declaration do not come close to being 'comparable' to the training requirements of full asylum officers," U.S. District Judge Richard Leon writes.

A woman from Guatemala and her two daughters were apprehended upon crossing the U.S.-Mexico border between El Paso and Ciudad Juárez and were immediately expelled back to Mexico in the early hours of April 2 at the Paso del Norte International Bridge.

Ending 'Asylum As We Know It': Using Pandemic To Expel Migrants, Children At Border

7:44pm August 06, 2020

Tens of thousands of migrants, including asylum-seekers and unaccompanied children, have been turned away at the border since March. Now the administration wants to restrict asylum permanently.

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