TRUMP’S NEW EXECUTIVE ORDER issued yesterday denying access to asylum to many refugees at our Southern border will surely be challenged in Court. The law appears to violate the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980, which guarantees individuals the right to seek asylum whether at the U.S. border, a port of entry or even from the interior of the country. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refugee_Act
Also, Donald Trump has justified his new Order on many “alternative facts” about these asylum seekers. Here’s a couple examples contradicted by his own Justice Department:
Donald Trump claimed last week that only 3% of asylum seekers show up for court. The false myth is that asylum seekers disappear once they arrive and don’t appear for their Court hearings. But the U.S. Department of Justice (which operates the immigration courts) reports that the overwhelming majority of individuals requesting asylum appear in court, including 89% of those who file an application for asylum. See their statistics at: https://www.justice.gov/eoir/page/file/1107056/download
We work on a daily basis with asylum seekers from Central America and Mexico and I can tell you that most are fleeing terror at the hands of cartels, gangs and other criminal elements in their country. They wish to tell their story and the small fraction that don’t appear for their hearings generally don’t understand the process or don’t have a lawyer or are just simply afraid of deportation.
Another myth is that only a small number win their asylum cases. To prevail in court, they must convince a judge that they have a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or social group. Nonetheless, in 2017, 40% of asylum applicants succeeded in doing so and obtaining asylum from an immigration court.
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