Washington: The Trump administration has launched a nationwide effort to dismiss thousands of pending asylum cases in US immigration courts, arguing that asylum seekers can be deported to countries other than their own, according to a report.
Several immigration lawyers and certified legal representatives said the push has intensified in recent weeks. Asylum seekers appearing before immigration courts in cities including Atlanta, New York, Miami, Los Angeles, San Francisco and across Texas have been affected, even as the backlog of pending cases continues to grow.
Immigration courts are administrative bodies run by the Department of Justice and are not part of the US judicial branch. They handle cases related to deportation and immigration law.
Under the administration’s new strategy, the government argues that while asylum seekers claim fear of persecution in their home countries, they can be deported to third countries instead. As part of this approach, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lawyers are seeking dismissal of asylum cases without immigration judges hearing them on their merits, the report said.
ICE lawyers have also asked judges to order deportations to countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador and Uganda, according to the report.
The White House, ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.
The report comes as President Donald Trump prepares to take new immigration actions next year.
