Asylum
Asylum grants legal protection to foreign nationals already in the U.S. or arriving at the border who can’t go back to their home country because of persecution. Learn more about the asylum system in the United States, including how asylum is defined, eligibility requirements, and the difficult and complex application process.
The Asylum Turnback Case: From the First Filing to the Supreme Court
After years of jockeying through the courts, on June 25, a 6-3 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the government in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado. First filed in 2017, Al Otro Lado is the Council’s long-running litigation challenging the first Trump administration’s policy of turning back people seeking asylum as they approached ports of entry on… Read More
‘Metering’ of Asylum Seekers Is Bad Policy, Bad Law, and Bad for the Border
For years, the federal government had one, clear message for migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border: go to a port of entry and do not cross the border illegally. This message was bipartisan. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen declared in June 2018: “If you… Read More
Supreme Court Allows Trump to Strip TPS, Turn Away Asylum Seekers Arriving at the Border in Pair of New Immigration Rulings
Today the U.S. Supreme Court issued two seismic immigration law decisions, ruling 6-3 in the Trump administration’s favor in each case. The first case, Mullin v. Doe, overturns lower court decisions blocking the Trump administration’s move to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for roughly 350,000 Haitians and… Read More
The Supreme Court Hears Asylum Turnback Case: What You Need to Know
The opportunity to ask for asylum is a right protected under both U.S. and international law. Yet, during the first Trump administration, border officials physically blocked hundreds of thousands of migrants from accessing ports of entry to seek asylum. Under the government’s “turnback policy” (which the government calls… Read More
Supreme Court Today: Immigration Advocates Tell Justices Trump’s Turnback Policy Violated Law
Thousands denied right to seek asylum and forced back into danger; case has implications for refugee rights March 24, 2026, Washington, D.C. – Immigration advocates argued today before the Supreme Court that the Trump administration’s turnback policy violated federal immigration law. Under the now-defunct policy, immigration officers… Read More
From Imprisonment and Torture in Iran to Endless Detention in the US
The Trump administration has gone to war in Iran. And among the many rationales given is that, by “being beat to hell,” the Iranian regime will be weakened enough for a grassroots revolution to topple it.“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to… Read More
Federal Court Blocks Significant Pieces of Administration’s Sweeping Immigration Appeals Rule That Eliminates Meaningful Judicial Review
Order Halts Implementation of Dangerous Steps that Would Have Dismantled Safeguards at the Board of Immigration Appeals Washington, D.C. — The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order late last night in Amica Center for Immigrant Rights et al. v. Executive Office for Immigration… Read More
Legal Services Organizations Sue to Block Sweeping Immigration Appeals Rule That Eliminates Meaningful Judicial Review
Emergency Filing Seeks Court Order to Halt Implementation of Interim Final Rule that Dismantles Safeguards at the Board of Immigration Appeals Washington, D.C., Feb. 26, 2026 — Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, Brooklyn Defender Services, Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, HIAS, the American Immigration Council, and National… Read More
‘Please Save Our Lives.’ LGBTQ Asylum Seekers Face Death if Deported Back to Iran
Three LGBTQ Iranians came to our southern border together a year ago, seeking asylum. All three had experienced similar harm: brutal abuse as children by family members for perceived rejection of gender norms in deeply religions families, and persecution by Iranian officials as adults. They fled Iran together… Read More
For Victims of Gender-Based Violence, Getting Asylum Just Got Harder
A new decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) will make it harder for people fleeing gender-based violence to gain asylum in the United States. On July 18, the BIA published its decision in Matter of K-E-S-G-, finding that people persecuted solely on account of their… Read More
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