Donald Trump's presidency is due to end on January 20
Credit: Oliver Contreras/SIPA USA/Bloomberg
US immigration lawyers have vowed to take Donald Trump’s administration to court after it published a rule change that significantly raises the bar for asylum seekers to gain refuge in America, including over the threat of gangs or gender violence.
The US president’s Homeland Security Department and Justice Department have published a rule alteration some 419 pages long which in dense legal language redefines the criteria asylum seekers must meet.
One aspect relates to people who claim to have a "credible fear of persecution or torture" should they return to their home country. The definition for what amounts to “persecution” has been changed.
The new rule states that “every instance of harm that arises generally out of civil, criminal, or military strife in a country” does not necessarily count as persecution. Nor does “intermittent harassment, including brief detentions”.
Similarly “threats with no actions taken to carry out the threats” and “non-severe economic harm or property damage” are listed as examples of what no longer counts as persecution.
The rule change also makes it harder for individuals seeking asylum over gender or gang violence to gain approval. Those are two common justifications people fleeing their home countries for America often cite.
The new rule has triggered an immediate backlash from immigration lawyers who say it would drastically reduce the number of people who will gain asylum in the US.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of the advocacy group American Immigration Council told Politico: “This is the most sweeping attack on asylum that we have seen under the Trump administration.”
"Under this rule, asylum would be taken out of reach for a large percentage of people who in the past would have been able to qualify."
Lee Gelernt, a prominent immigration lawyer who works with the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Telegraph: “These regulations are yet another attempt by the Trump administration to destroy the US asylum system, and will result in countless people being sent back to grave danger.
“They will be challenged in court and we hope as well that the Biden administration will reverse these new devastating rules.”
The rule change, which is due to take effect 30 days after its expected publication on Friday, is the latest in a string of hardline policies over immigration and asylum adopted during the Trump presidency.
Mr Trump made a tough stance on immigration a core plank of both his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.
The president has expanded fencing at the US-Mexico border and repeatedly pushed his Homeland Security team to drive down annual immigration figures, to cheers from his supporters at rallies.
But critics have accused Mr Trump of heartlessness, not least over his controversial policy of separating migrant parents from their children when they cross the border illegally, which was escalated and then dropped in 2018.
The rule change is also the latest example of the Trump administration pushing through policies in line with Mr Trump’s long-held ideological priorities in the final weeks of his presidency.
Since his election defeat on November 3, Mr Trump has also sped up US troop withdrawals in Afghanistan and Iraq and is said to be mulling new tough measures on China, with the two nations locked in a long-running trade war.
Joe Biden, the US president-elect who defeated Mr Trump, could reverse the asylum rule change after he takes office at the inauguration on January 20.
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