Phoenix Immigration & Naturalization Law Blog

Citizens of Arizona may be interested to learn that despite the Trump administration promising to streamline the legal immigration system, plenty of the decisions made by the administration have proven deleterious to the immigration courts, the latest of which has been the government shutdown and how it has been causing the cancellation of 20,000 cases every week. Experts believe that if the shutdown persists until the end of January, the number of backlogged cases during these five weeks could be more than 100,000.

During Trump's first 16 months as president, the backlog of immigration court cases grew by about 33 percent, reaching 714,000 cases. To make matters worse, this increase in the number of cases that have no scheduled court date is not due to an increase in the number of case filings but rather due to decisions made by the Trump administration.

The 2018 fiscal year for the United States government ended on Sept. 30. As of that date, U.S. Customs and Border Protection says credible fear asylum claims at the Mexico border increased 67 percent from the previous year. That translates to a total of 92,959 claims as opposed to just 55,584 a year prior. Furthermore, the number of credible fear claims as a percentage of all people stopped at the border increased to 18 percent from 13 percent a year earlier.

During the 2018 fiscal year, 21 percent of asylum claims were granted by a judge. In most instances, those who pass the credible fear threshold are given ankle monitors and released until their cases are heard. It is believed that about 75 percent of those who ask for asylum make it past the initial part of the process. The increase in individuals claiming asylum at the United States border with Mexico is partially because of a caravan of individuals coming from Central America.

For people in Arizona who are affected by U.S. immigration law, President Donald Trump's policies have raised a great deal of concern. Political rhetoric has escalated on the issue of immigration, and many people are concerned that their own applications could be negatively impacted as a result. However, there has been a response in the courts; on Nov. 19, a federal judge blocked the Trump administration's attempt to refuse asylum to people who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border without documentation.

The judge heard arguments in the case brought by two civil rights organizations, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Constitutional Rights, before issuing a temporary restraining order. On Nov. 9, Trump issued a presidential proclamation saying that people who crossed the southern border outside standard ports of entry would not be eligible to seek asylum. This comes into conflict with standing federal immigration law, which explicitly provides the right to apply for asylum to people who did not enter at standard entry points. If the presidential order is allowed to remain in place, thousands of people fleeing violence may face a more difficult process that could result in deportation.

Arizona might be one destination for a caravan of more than 7,000 people from Central America who are traveling toward the U.S. border. Although many of these immigrants may plan to apply for asylum and expect to be accepted, experts say that acceptance is unlikely.

This is the largest known caravan to travel to the border. In April, 1,500 people from Central America reached the border, but just 250 are currently still in the country. Asylum has been granted to just three of them. Around the same time that caravan arrived, the policy of family separation began. This has been modified to give parents a choice between remaining in detention with their children or having their children released while they remain in detention. This appears to be unlikely to deter asylum seekers.