The immigration expert lawyer, Willy Allen, has urged all Cubans currently undergoing an asylum process in the United States to review their application, as they could be asked anything during the interview that is written in it.
Allen recalled that a decision from the BIA (Board of Immigration Appeals) last August allows judges to dismiss an asylum case if the application is incomplete, which often happens when documentation is attached and, instead of filling in a box, there is a referral to read the attached documents. For this reason, in his opinion, "we need to be ready to tighten our belts just a little bit more. We must prepare better," he said.
In light of this warning, Willy Allen reminded us that "there is a decision from the BIA that is very concerning. It came out in August and states that judges can dismiss asylum applications. This is important for the people watching us (referring to the viewers of his Monday program on CiberCuba at 11:00 AM in Miami); if not all questions on the asylum application were answered, or if details were omitted from any question, the Immigration judge can now automatically dismiss the asylum case because it is incomplete," he said.
After that ruling, in his office, Allen states that they are scrutinizing all asylum applications very closely. "Often, the questions include: 'See the attachment' or 'explained in the attachment, because some questions do not apply.' Well, if you responded in that way, the judges now in Immigration, following the BIA's decision in August, are going to start canceling your asylum before the hearing. That's very important," he warned.
Willy Allen's advice is clear: "If you have submitted an asylum application in court, at this moment, you need to keep up to date with the process of paying your asylum fee on the Immigration Court's website, but two, and more importantly, review your asylum application, make sure that all questions are answered with the best possible details, because we are going to encounter judges who will start using the way in which the application is completed to deny it."
According to Allen, he has read in discussions among lawyers that some of them have already experienced this: before the trial begins, the judge dismisses their client's case, stating "you don’t qualify" because the application is not fully completed. Be very careful with this. This is a moment when, if you have a trial coming up or if you have already submitted your asylum application to the court, take the time to review it. You have time to file an amendment and make it complete, because you don’t want to go to court and have a bad experience realizing that you can't even present your asylum case," the attorney pointed out.
Willy Allen believes that these times are particularly delicate for making mistakes of this kind, especially when Stephen Miller, the mastermind behind the entire immigration policy of the Trump Administration, thinks that all asylum claims made by people who entered through the border are fraudulent.
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