National Immigrant Justice Center
208 S. LaSalle St., Suite 1300, Chicago, IL 60604
Immigration Legal Service Groups Demand Data on Asylum Seekers Waiting for Credible and Reasonable Fear Interviews
October 14, 2013
FOIA Request Triggered by Excessive Delays Victims of Persecution Face for Initial Immigration Interviews
Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center and 11 other immigration legal aid and advocacy organizations today submitted a public records request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for data and documents that could help explain why asylum seekers are facing excessive waits in detention for initial interviews to evaluate their eligibility for protection under U.S. laws.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request asks for data regarding individuals awaiting preliminary interviews to decide whether they can seek asylum in the United States as well as documentation pertaining to the government’s internal protocols for processing and conducting these interviews and the significant backlogs applicants currently face.
“NIJC and the organizations seeking this information are seeing too many people languishing in DHS custody in prisons and county jails, in some cases for months, as they wait for their very first immigration interview,” said NIJC Associate Director of Litigation Claudia Valenzuela. “Not only is this an unconscionable way to treat those who may already be traumatized by persecution, but at an average cost of $159 per person per day, their incarceration is a tremendous burden on taxpayers.”
A credible or reasonable fear interview is the first step in the asylum process for migrants seeking protection from persecution in their native countries. During the interview, an immigration officer determines whether an individual has a viable claim and should be allowed to proceed in the immigration system, or should be deported. Reports from around the country indicate that newly arriving asylum seekers face waits for credible fear interviews ranging anywhere from eight days to two months, often spending the entire time in detention. Migrants already in the United States who have previously been ordered deported but face potential persecution in the countries designated for their removal are waiting as long as nine months for reasonable fear interviews, according to reports received by NIJC.
Organizations joining NIJC in submitting the FOIA request are The Advocates for Human Rights, American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Americans for Immigrant Justice, American Immigration Lawyers Association, American Gateways, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, and Women’s Refugee Commission.