GOP Leader Demands DHS Probe of Soaring Asylum Claims from Mexico
Fox News Latino reports that House Judiciary Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano in which he expressed concern over the increase from 5,222 Mexican asylum claims in 2009 to 23,408 so far this year. The applications could take a number of months before hearings on the claims are held. The claims generally relate to the drug violence in Mexico. 92 percent of Mexicans requesting asylum are allowed to proceed with their case. 91 percent of those claims end up being denied.
FoxNews.com adds that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is probing deeper into the spike in asylum requests. The Obama administration’s asylum program currently allows illegally present immigrants to postpone or potentially avoid deportation by claiming credible fear of drug cartels in their home countries. The oversight committee is investigating the potential that immigrants are being coached to falsely claim credible fear of persecution. Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a subcommittee chairman on National Security, made thirteen specific requests in a letter sent to outgoing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, including one for information on asylum court cases in which witnesses made “false assertions,” as well as one for the number of asylum fraud cases being investigated by USCIS.
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More Noncitizens Avoiding Deportation
Ajc.com reports that federal immigration judges intend to allow approximately 89,000 immigrants facing deportation to temporarily remain in the U.S. The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a research organization at Syracuse University, reported that only 53 percent of immigration cases have ended with deportation this fiscal year—the lowest percentage since 1998. The government has exercised “prosecutorial discretion” by giving special consideration to certain groups of people such as families and immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
http://www.ajc.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/more-noncitizens-avoidingdeportation/nZwXk/
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