Tag

#asylum

The right to seek and receive protection from persecution in another country. Incidents involve denial of asylum claims, obstruction of asylum processes, or removal of individuals who have expressed fear of persecution.

12 incidents

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Judge Holds DHS in Contempt Twice for Deporting Protected Young Asylum Seekers, Including One Teen Deported to El Salvador Twice

A Trump-appointed federal judge twice held DHS in contempt in 2026 for deporting young asylum seekers protected by a court settlement: at least 107 removals found in July, then the second deportation to El Salvador of the same 19-year-old in September, after he had already been returned once. DHS blamed 'communication errors.'

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

Immigration Rocket Dockets: Mass Fast-Tracked Hearings and In Absentia Removal Orders

An accelerated immigration court system that fast-tracks cases through mass remote hearings, with two-thirds of all Somali cases nationwide rescheduled on short notice. The process systematically deprives respondents of due process, as the 2018–19 family rocket dockets showed, when 80% of completed cases ended in in absentia removal orders.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

Midnight Deportation of 76 Guatemalan Children: Labor Day Weekend Mass Removal Attempt

The administration attempted a mass deportation of unaccompanied minor children in the middle of the night during a holiday weekend, circumventing legal protections that require children to appear before an immigration judge. A federal judge halted the operation after being awakened at 2:35 AM, but one plane had already taken off before turning around.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

Suspension of Asylum at the Southern Border

The administration imposed an unprecedented total ban on asylum claims at the southern border, shutting down the CBP One app and eliminating all avenues for protection. A federal judge ruled the president 'cannot adopt an alternative immigration system which supplants the statutes that Congress has enacted.'

Grade 4 of 5: Critical Rights and Rule-of-Law Concern

Title 42 Expulsions: Public-Health Order Used to Expel Asylum Seekers Without Screening, Over CDC Experts' Objections (March 2020)

The administration used a COVID-19 public-health order to close the southern border to asylum seekers, expelling hundreds of thousands of people with no protection screening. Top CDC scientists said there was no public-health basis for it. Human Rights Watch found it violated the US obligation not to return people to persecution or torture.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

US–Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement: Asylum Seekers Transferred to Guatemala Without a Hearing (2019–2020)

The US sent 939 Central American asylum seekers to Guatemala without letting them apply for asylum in the US. Guatemala's asylum system could not process their claims, and the HRW/Refugees International investigation found that almost none applied there and that some went home to the danger they fled. Transfers stopped in March 2020 because of Covid-19.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

Remain in Mexico (2019): Asylum Seekers Forced to Wait in Dangerous Border Cities; Appeals Court Finds Programme Likely Unlawful

The first Trump administration made tens of thousands of asylum seekers wait in Mexican border cities, among the most violent in the region, for US hearings they mostly faced without lawyers. HRW documented kidnappings and assaults and found the programme violated non-refoulement; a federal appeals court found it likely unlawful, but the Supreme Court let it continue.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

2018 Asylum Ban: Proclamation 9822 Bars Asylum for Anyone Crossing Between Ports of Entry

The administration tried to strip asylum eligibility from everyone who crossed the southern border between official crossing points, despite a statute that expressly allows them to apply. The courts blocked it, and the Ninth Circuit found it 'effectively a categorical ban' contrary to US law and refugee-treaty commitments.

Grade 3 of 5: Serious Rights Violation

Matter of A-B-: Sessions Declares Domestic- and Gang-Violence Asylum Claims Will 'Generally' Fail (2018)

Sessions used his power to rewrite immigration precedent to declare that people fleeing domestic or gang violence will generally not qualify for asylum. Its standards were applied at the border to screen people out before they could make their case; federal courts held key parts of that screening policy unlawful, and the decision was vacated in 2021.