United States: judge blocks fast-track asylum process for unaccompanied minors
Maryland — A federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked two policies of President Donald Trump's administration that had sped up asylum interviews for unaccompanied minors in the United States, finding that the new rules could undermine the special protections federal law grants to children who arrive alone.
The order by District Judge Brendan Hurson requires U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to restore the previous procedures for now. The measure will remain in effect until November 13, while the court decides whether to grant a longer suspension.
The dispute centers on two changes introduced by USCIS in August and September. One eliminated the requirement to give 21 days' notice of an asylum interview date for an unaccompanied minor; according to the organizations that filed the lawsuit, some children began receiving notices with less than 24 hours' warning.
The second policy tightened the conditions for postponing an interview: the new standard allowed rescheduling only in exceptional circumstances, a threshold the minors' lawyers consider especially hard to meet when the applicant is a child who depends on legal representatives, social workers, guardians or interpreters.
Hurson concluded preliminarily that such short notice does not appear compatible with the 2008 William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which requires the asylum process to take into account the particular needs of unaccompanied minors. He also found that the stricter standard for changing a date likely conflicts with the Administrative Procedure Act.
The decision does not grant asylum to any minor nor does it eliminate the federal government's ability to decide or deny applications: it temporarily suspends the fast-track mechanism while the litigation continues and orders a return to the previous rules on notice and rescheduling.
The case, identified as The Door v. Edlow, is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, and its outcome could affect thousands of unaccompanied minors whose asylum cases are processed by U.S. immigration authorities.
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