The number of cases in which immigration judges agreed that asylum seekers have a credible fear of persecution if they return to their home nations has fallen dramatically in 2018. It results in quicker deportations as the Trump administration narrows the chances of receiving asylum, a report released on Monday revealed.
Researchers at Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse say that immigration judges believed enough evidence had been provided by asylum seekers in just 14.7% of cases since January, around 50% less than the figures in the corresponding period last year. Immigrants who can show a credible fear of persecution are allowed to remain in the US and go on to the next stage of claiming asylum. Those who cannot do so face the prospect of deportation.
The credible fear of persecution can be based on the religion, specific social group membership, political opinion, or race of the applicant and reviews of that fear are now applicable to many parents arriving with their children at the Southwest border. Favorable rulings have declined since officials with the Trump administration began claiming that many asylum cases were without merit.
In October 2017, Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, told immigration judges to elevate the standard of proof threshold in credible fear interviews. He also ordered them to stop granting asylum to most gang violence and domestic abuse victims in June 2018.