With the support of pro bono partner Ara Takyi, Safe Passage Project has submitted a robust 20-page comment strongly opposing USCIS’ Interim Final Rule ending the guaranteed right of affirmative asylum applicants to a non-adversarial asylum interview conducted by a trained asylum officer. Safe Passage Project’s comment focuses on the severe impact that the dramatic curtailing of access to asylum interviews will have on the due process rights of unaccompanied children seeking asylum.

“Congress placed initial consideration of unaccompanied child asylum applications with a corps of officers trained to conduct non-adversarial interviews, elicit relevant information, recognize trauma-related barriers to disclosure, and evaluate claims in a child-sensitive manner. The interim final rule effectively dilutes that statutory protection to the point of meaninglessness. That result cannot be reconciled with a statute expressly designed to ensure that unaccompanied child procedures account for children’s specific developmental, psychological, and evidentiary needs.”