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Original Date Announced
July 27, 2026The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) issued an interim final rule (IFR) allowing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers to forgo interviews in certain affirmative asylum cases if they determine from the application that the applicant is barred from, ineligible for, or does not merit asylum, referring those cases directly to immigration court instead. Footnote 22 of the IFR observes that because a recent policy change by the Acting Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) and a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals allow immigration judges to pretermit asylum cases, asylum applications denied by USCIS without an interview may also be denied by EOIR "without a hearing."
The rule applies to pending and future affirmative asylum applications and removes regulatory language describing an applicant's "right" to an interview. DHS estimates the change could affect about 444,000 pending cases and result in more than 132,000 interview-free referrals to immigration court each year.
Trump 2.0 [ID #2350]
2026.07.28 DHS - Affirmative Asylum Referrals Without InterviewEffective Date
July 28, 2026Subsequent Trump and Court Action
August 19, 20262026.08.19 Complaint - Immigration Equality v. Mullin
Four legal services nonprofits filed suit against DHS and USCIS to challenge the IFR described above. The complaint alleges that the IFR violates the APA as it (1) failed to comply with notice-and-comment requirements, (2) is contrary to law, and (3) is arbitrary and capricious. Immigration Equality v. Mullin, No. 1:26-cv-02921 (D.D.C.).
**Link to case here. Our litigation entries generally report only the initial complaint and any major substantive filings or decisions. For additional information, CourtListener provides access to PACER and all available pleadings. Other sites that track litigation in more detail or organize cases by topic include Civil Rights Clearinghouse, Justice Action Center, National Immigration Litigation Alliance, and Just Security**
View DocumentCurrent Status
NoneOriginal Trump Policy Status
Status: Final/ActualTrump Administration Action: RuleSubject Matter: Asylum, Withholding and CAT Hearings and AdjudicationsAssociated or Derivative Policies
Documents
Trump-Era Policy Documents
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Commentary
2026.09.28 AFL Affirmative Asylum Comment
America First Legal (AFL) submitted a comment to the IFR arguing that the longstanding regulatory right to an asylum interview is the result of a misinterpretation of early regulatory text. They argue that because applicants have long had a right to an interview, the affirmative asylum backlog stands at 1.4 million cases with an average processing time of 7.3 years.
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