New Rule Could Send Hundreds of Thousands Seeking Asylum to Immigration Courts

The Trump administration said the change was meant to decrease the backlog of applications.

Immigration Asylum Border

The rule change would allow U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to send certain applications to immigration judges without interviewing the migrants seeking asylum. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)

The Trump administration plans to funnel potentially hundreds of thousands of asylum cases to immigration courts that are denying relief to nearly all applicants.

A Department of Homeland Security rule change announced Monday could more quickly shift asylum applications from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to immigration judges.

The change in how the federal government handles certain asylum petitions is meant to reduce the 1.4 million-case backlog at USCIS, according to the interim final rule going into effect Tuesday.