The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement after the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a regulatory change aimed at reducing the backlog of cases in the asylum system, according to a statement on Monday, July 27, 2026.
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released the following statement after the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced a regulatory change aimed at reducing the backlog of cases in the asylum system, according to a statement on Monday, July 27, 2026.Currently, both USCIS and immigration judges from the Department of Justice (DOJ) review asylum applications: USCIS handles so-called “affirmative” asylum applications (filed by foreigners not facing removal proceedings), while immigration judges handle “defensive” applications (filed by foreigners who are under such proceedings). Depending on the foreigner’s immigration status, USCIS usually reviews the application or forwards it to an immigration judge, who then conducts a new review of the case. This basically gives the foreigner a second chance to get asylum, according to this statement.
This final temporary rule lets USCIS send asylum applications to immigration judges without first hearing from the foreign national. This move will cut down the overall time needed for asylum officers and immigration judges to decide on applications. USCIS is making this change mainly to reduce the backlog of asylum cases, the statement says.
“For far too long, the asylum system has been exploited for delay tactics and to obtain work authorization, rather than to assert legitimate protection claims,” said USCIS Director Joseph Edlow, quoted in this statement.
“The U.S. asylum system is meant to protect people who genuinely fear persecution; this rule will help ensure that resources are focused on quickly reviewing those claims, rather than on those trying to misuse the system for their own benefit.””One of the main obstacles to effective enforcement of immigration laws lies in the deliberate stalling tactics used by undocumented immigrants and the pro-open borders lawyers who represent them,” said DHS General Counsel James Percival. “My office works daily with DHS immigration services to improve efficiency and fulfill the mission entrusted by the president. This is exactly what this rule will allow.”
The new rule will take effect immediately. USCIS will collect public comments and later issue a final rule taking those comments into account, the statement said.It’s estimated that about 444,724 of the 1.4 million pending cases in the affirmative asylum system will be affected, according to the Miami Herald article.
Since TPS ended for several nationalities, many immigrants have filed for asylum, claiming that their lives would be in danger if they were sent back to their home countries. Immigrant rights advocates say that even before this new rule was announced, they were already seeing a troubling trend: recently filed applications were being processed quickly and rejected soon after, according to the Miami Herald article.Robyn Barnard, vice president in charge of refugee and immigrant rights at Human Rights First, an organization that provides free legal services to asylum seekers, believes that this new rule, combined with the current policy that pushes immigration judges to deny asylum claims sometimes even before a full hearing or to send applicants to a third country, “puts people in an extremely dangerous and desperate situation in the face of these various U.S. government policies,” cited by the Miami Herald.
TPS beneficiaries and other immigrants in the U.S. who were relying on an asylum application to regularize their status now find themselves even more exposed to the risk of deportation.The new rule allows more cases to be directed to immigration judges, who are part of the Department of Justice, which is pushing to speed up deportation orders and increase asylum denials. Immigration judges are in charge of deciding on asylum requests from people facing deportation.
