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Court Upholds Limits On Asylum Seekers

2020

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 7-2 ruling, says that asylum seekers who are quickly turned down by U.S. immigration officials do not have a right to make their case in federal court. Immigrants who make a claim for asylum must initially prove to immigration officials that they have a “credible fear” of persecution in their country of origin to proceed with the full asylum process.
In the majority opinion, Justice Samuel Alito Jr. rejected a lower court’s ruling that the Constitution guarantees a “meaningful opportunity” for asylum seekers to make their case to a judge if they are turned down in an initial screening. The decision in Department of Homeland Security v. Thuraissigiam allows the Trump administration to fast-track deportations for thousands of asylum-seekers.

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