Public comment: Oppose EOIR proposal to further restrict asylum eligibility based on contact with U.S. criminal system - Deadline Jan 21st

From the Immigrant Justice Network and the National Immigrant Justice Center: Our immigration and asylum policies must honor our ideals of compassion, fairness, and respect for human rights. But the Trump administration is gutting asylum with an unrelenting series of attacks.

In fact, just before the holidays, the Trump administration quietly introduced a proposed rule change that would hurt many asylum seekers. The rule change would exclude many asylum seekers based on future contact with the U.S.’s flawed criminal legal system.

This would inject racial profiling into the asylum process and put asylum-seekers at risk of danger - even death. It’s no secret that racial profiling and obstacles to equal justice run rampant in the criminal legal system. Under this rule change, people who have endured mistreatment and profiling would be punished a second time -- with deportation back to the very life-threatening situation they fled. And judges would be powerless to help. You can find more detailed background on the proposed rule here, along with an additional template which you can use to develop in-depth organizational comment.

Please comment directly on the proposed change by January 21st with your own original comment in your own words. Well-informed, original public comment can help stop bad policy—the administration must address every point made, and arguments made and facts cited in public comments can be cited in court briefs. Public comment works—let’s keep doing it!