Salt Lake City, Utah — Several asylum seekers in Utah say their long-awaited chances to argue for protection in the United States are being cut off as the Trump administration moves to dismiss cases and deport immigrants to so-called “safe third countries” where they have no personal ties.
Immigration attorneys in Utah report that the Department of Homeland Security has increasingly filed motions to “pretermit” asylum cases, allowing judges to dismiss them before hearings take place. Under this approach, asylum seekers can be sent to countries such as Honduras or Ecuador to pursue protection there, even if they have never lived in or traveled to those nations.
South Jordan attorney Carlos Trujillo said the strategy became more common after an October immigration appeals ruling that placed the burden on immigrants to prove they would face persecution or torture in a third country. He said doing so is nearly impossible when clients have no connection to the destination country. Trujillo said he expects to have just minutes to argue such cases on behalf of Venezuelan clients.
The policy shift comes as the administration pushes to reduce a massive asylum backlog. More than two million cases are pending nationwide, according to Syracuse University’s TRAC database. DHS has said it is using lawful tools and bilateral agreements to address delays and what it describes as abuse of the asylum system.
Other attorneys argue some third-country agreements lack clear criteria and point to high violence levels in countries where migrants may be sent, raising concerns about safety and due process.
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