Fast-track regulation bars third-country asylum seekers

The Trump administration contends the previous standard was too low and allowed migrants easy passage into the U.S. Attorney General William Barr and acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan lauded the move in written statements.Barr argued that the new measure “will decrease forum shopping by economic migrants and those who seek to exploit our asylum system,” but will still leave other routes to seek protection.The new regulation will not affect applications for protection under two other avenues available to migrants: “withholding of removal” and relief under the United Nations Convention against Torture, a 1987 treaty.However, migrants applying for refuge through those programs face a higher bar to prove a fear of returning to their home countries, and generally aren’t able to petition for a green card or for family members to join them.The latest asylum regulation contains three exceptions, according to DHS and DOJ.Migrants may be exempted from the ban if they demonstrate that they first attempted to seek protection from persecution or torture in at least one other transit country, but were denied refuge.Likewise, asylum seekers who meet the definition of a “victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons” — a standard outlined in federal immigration law — will be able to circumvent the new restrictions.Finally, migrants who pass through countries that are not parties to three different international asylum and refugee treaties will be excluded from the new asylum ban. That won't likely affect migrants traveling to the U.S., since most countries in the world adhere to at least one of the agreements.Pro-migrant groups blasted the regulatory change following Monday’s announcement.Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, argued that the new rule was “patently unlawful“ and said the organization would take swift legal action against it.Jennifer Quigley, director of refugee advocacy at Human Rights First, called it “another illegal, dangerous and disgraceful attempt to ban refugees from asylum in this country.”The shift in asylum policy is only the latest of several Trump administration changes to the system to discourage migrants from trekking to the U.S.-Mexico border.The administration in December announced its “remain in Mexico” program, which forces certain non-Mexican asylum seekers to stay in that country pending resolution of their U.S. asylum cases.Under the program, formally known as the Migrant Protection Protocols, nearly 20,000 non-Mexican migrants have been forced to wait in Mexico, according to Mexican government statistics posted earlier this month.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in May temporarily allowedthe Trump administration to continue running the program pending the outcome of a related legal challenge.