From Persecution to Prison - Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of ...

authority to grant asylum and with some training in the circumstances andcountry conditions generally surrounding asylum applications. Interviewswith asylum officers are non-adversarial in nature. If an affirmative applicationis granted, the “asylee” receives work authorization and after oneyear, may apply for permanent residency and eventually for citizenship. Ifasylum is not granted, the case is referred to the immigration court for furtherreview of the asylum claim and for the initiation of removal (deportation)proceedings.Asylum seekers who arrive at the US border without proper documentationare subject to an entirely different regimen. Under the Illegal ImmigrationReform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), 237 passed in1996 “in a wave of anti-immigrant sentiment,” 238 any person who arrivesat an airport or border checkpoint without travel documents — or withdocuments that immigration officers merely suspect to be false or fraudulent— may be deported immediately by those immigration officers withoutany opportunity for a hearing or judicial review, known as expeditedremoval. 239 In the same year, Congress passed The Antiterrorism andEffective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). It creates a process bywhich the US government can designate organizations as “foreign terroristorganizations.” 240 Individuals involved in these organizations are notentitled to asylum.Asylum seekers arriving without proper documents may avoid immediatedeportation under this expedited removal process of the IIRIRA only ifan immigration officer recognizes that they fear being returned to theircountry of origin or want to seek asylum. 241 During the initial encounterat the airport or port of entry, INS procedures required that immigrantssubject to expedited removal be informed, in a language they understand,of the opportunity to explain such fears or intentions. 242 This encounterincludes the initial screening by an immigration officer familiar to mostany international traveler and a “secondary inspection” that follows afterthe officer finds problems with travel documents, and the individual indicatesthat s/he fears return. 243237IIRIRA, 18 U.S.C. 611.238Human Rights Watch, Locked Away: Immigration Detainees in Jails in the United States,September, Vol.10, No. 1(G), Sept. 1998, p.7[HRW, Locked Away].239See INA § 212 (a) (6) (C) (1997), 8 U.S.C. § 1182 (1998); 8 C.F.R.§235.3(b)(4); LawyersCommittee for Human Rights, Is This America? The Denial of Due Process to Asylum Seekersin the United States, Oct. 2000, p. 19 [LCHR, Is This America]240INS, Asylum Officer History.241INS, Asylum Officer History.242See 8 C.F.R. §235.3(b)(2)(I); INS Form I-867A & B; INS Inspections Field Manual, chapt.17, sec. 17.15.2438 C.F.R. 235.3(b)(4).162 FROM PERSECUTION TO PRISON