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Original Date Announced
December 30, 2025U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) issued a final rule that amends the 2020 USCIS and EOIR final rule "Security Bars and Processing," which added public health-related bars to eligibility for asylum and withholding of removal. The 2020 final rule was delayed multiple times and scheduled to go into effect on December 31, 2025. The new 2025 final rule withdraws some provisions of the 2020 rule, which now becomes effective as scheduled.
The new final rule implements, without changes, the portion of the 2020 final rule that provides that the "danger to the security of the United States" bar to eligibility for asylum and withholding of removal includes certain circumstances based on emergency public health concerns generated by a communicable disease. The revisions also introduce specific criteria, such as exhibiting symptoms of a disease or having been exposed to the disease during its incubation and contagion period.
The new final rule withdraws the portions of the 2020 final rule that would have:
- clarified how bars to asylum and withholding of removal for noncitizens who pose a "danger to the security of the United States" apply during credible fear screenings; and
- added procedures for removing a noncitizen to a third country "prior to a determination or adjudication of the alien’s initial request for withholding or deferral of removal’’ in some circumstances.
The new final rule states that the provisions relating to the credible fear process are withdrawn because they would interfere with other rules that were promulgated after the 2020 final rule and "impede the Administration’s success in managing the border." The provisions relating to third-country removal are withdrawn to avoid confusion as to the possibility of third-country removals.
The rule is effective on December 31, 2025, with no period for public comment.
Trump 2.0 [ID #2157]
2025.12.30 USCIS and EOIR Final Rule - Security Bars and Processing; Confirmation of Effective Date; Partial WithdrawalEffective Date
December 31, 2025Current Status
NoneOriginal Trump Policy Status
Status: Final/ActualTrump Administration Action: RuleSubject Matter: Asylum, Withholding and CATAssociated or Derivative Policies
Pre Trump-Era Policies
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December 23, 2020
This 2020 USCIS and EOIR final rule "Security Bars and Processing" was scheduled to go into effect on January 22, 2021, but was delayed multiple times and ultimately scheduled to go into effect on December 31, 2025.
2020.12.23 USCIS and EOIR Final Rule - Security Bars and Processing
Documents
Trump-Era Policy Documents
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