Original Date Announced

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ratifies an interim final rule (IFR) titled “Implementing Bilateral and Multilateral Asylum Cooperative Agreements Under the Immigration and Nationality Act.” 84 Fed. Reg. 63,994 (Nov. 19, 2019). The IFR provides for implementation of ACAs signed between the U.S. and third countries, authorizing asylum-seekers in the U.S. to be sent to third countries to process their claims.

The initial IFR was approved and issued by former Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf in 2019. Secretary Noem states she ratified the IFR "[o]ut of an abundance of caution" in response to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) Opinion and lawsuits challenging the validity of agency actions taken by improperly appointed officials.

For additional information regarding the Trump 1.0 Interim Final Rule, please see this Trump 1.0 entry.

Trump 2.0 [ID #1985]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.10.21 Amended Complaint - UT v. Noem

Plaintiffs in U.T. v. Noem filed an amended complaint in a lawsuit originally filed in 2020 to challenge the interim final rule when it was initially issued in 2019. The lawsuit had been held in abeyance since 2021 when the Biden administration terminated all relevant ACAs and began to consider whether to rescind the IFR. The IFR was not rescinded and on motion by the plaintiffs and in light of DHS Secretary Noem’s ratification of the IFR, the district court lifted the stay on October 15, 2025.

The amended complaint alleges that the rule and associated policies violate the "safe third country" provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as well as the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). It also states that the federal government is “actively working to sign further ACAs with inappropriate third countries,” and that an ACA with Ecuador is “reportedly imminent.” U.T. v. Noem, No. 1:20-cv-00116 (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**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2025.10.31 Interim Decision - Matter of C-I-G-M- & L-V-S-G-

The Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued a precedent decision in Matter of C-I-G-M- & L-V-S-G- holding that asylum applications may be pretermitted when there is an ACA in place. The respondents are asylum seekers from Guatemala. DHS had filed a motion to pretermit the lead respondent's applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and protections under the Convention Against Torture, arguing that she is ineligible to apply for asylum and related relief because she may be removed to Honduras under the Honduras ACA.

The BIA ruled that the ACA with Honduras bars the respondent's asylum application, and that the "Immigration Judge erred in determining that the ACA with Honduras does not apply to the respondent based solely on counsel's representations that the respondent fears being harmed there and generalized evidence of country conditions in Honduras." The BIA also ruled that the respondent is properly subject to the ACA with Honduras, even though the ACA was not implemented until after she filed for asylum in the United States.