Report says asylum system inconsistent; agency says it's responding

Published: 2005-05-26

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- After the first independent commission report was issued in February on how the United States treats asylum applicants, the federal government has moved to address the problems it raised, a U.S. Homeland Security Department official said. The report by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on "asylum seekers in expedited removal" found that asylum seekers were sometimes treated differently depending upon where they arrived and which immigration inspectors and judges dealt with them. It found inconsistencies even in whether people were given the same information from a standard script all inspectors are supposed to follow. Those differences appear to have affected whether people's applications for asylum were granted, the study said. Whether asylum seekers were released or jailed while their cases proceeded also apparently depended more on the jurisdiction in which their cases were handled than on the individuals' suitability to be released, it said. At an immigration law and policy conference May 24 at Georgetown University Law School, Michael Neifach, immigration policy director for the Border and Transportation Security Directorate, said Michael Chertoff, the new secretary of homeland security, has instructed the various departments involved in handling asylum applications to study the commission's report and make changes where necessary.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .