In another major crackdown against immigration in the United States, the PresidentDonald Trumpadministration announced sweeping overhaul of the asylum system. The Trump administration has proposed a regulation that would dramatically restrict work permits for asylum-seekers. Since the 1990s, US law has allowed immigration officials to grant work permits to asylum applicants if their cases have been pending for at least 180 days. The new proposal would suspend the acceptance of asylum work permit applications until the US Citizenship and Immigration Services reaches the point where it decides all asylum cases within an average of 180 days.
"For too long, a fraudulent asylum claim has been an easy path to working in the United States, overwhelming our immigration system with meritless applications," said a DHS Spokesperson.
"We are proposing an overhaul of the asylum system to enforce the rules and reduce the backlog we inherited from the prior administration. Aliens are not entitled to work while we process their asylum applications. The Trump administration is strengthening the vetting of asylum applicants and restoring integrity to the asylum and work authorization processes."
"Nearly every illegal alien attempts to exploit the system by applying for asylum. USCIS currently has more than 1.4 million pending affirmative asylum claims, which is equal to the entire population of the state of New Hampshire," the DHS said.
The text of the regulation acknowledged such a pause could last for "many years," predicting that, without considering the proposed changes, it could take officials between 14 and 173 years to adjudicate asylum cases within an average of 180 days, reported CBS News.
The Department of Homeland Security proposal also stipulates that asylum-seekers would only qualify for a work permit a year after they apply for asylum, increasing the eligibility wait period from 180 days to 365 days, the report said.
Additionally, the rule proposed to disqualify migrants who crossed the US illegally from work permit eligibility, unless they told immigration officials within 48 hours of entering the country that they were fleeing persecution, it added.
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Apoorva Shukla is a journalist at Times Now, where she thrives on dissecting political developments both at home and abroad. A graduate of Delhi Univ...View More
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