October 17, 2019
On July 16, the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice issued an interim final rule (IFR) that renders nearly everyone who is seeking asylum in the United States ineligible to apply. The IFR – a rule adopted and immediately effective, without notice or comment – requires that all applicants must first apply for protection in a country through which they traveled to get to the United States. Asylum Eligibility and Procedural Modifications, 84 Fed. Reg. 33,829 (July 16, 2019). The IFR unlawfully deprives children of asylum protections provided by U.S. law; leaves children at great risk of being returned to countries where they face great risk and harm; and disregards the undeveloped and inadequate state of asylum systems in transit countries such as Mexico and Guatemala.
On August 15, KIND filed comments noting these and other objections to the IFR, with support from Goodwin Procter LLP.
On October 15, KIND filed an amicus brief in a legal challenge to the IFR now pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, represented by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
