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The administration of President Donald Trump is developing a regulation that would allow immigration officials to deny certain asylum applications without first interviewing the applicants, according to internal government documents obtained by CBS News.
The measure, prompted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), would specifically apply to those who filed their asylum application more than a year after entering the United States, in violation of the established legal timeframe.
Under this regulation, officials of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would be empowered to dismiss those applications without following the historical practice of interviewing applicants, and would refer them directly to deportation proceedings before the immigration courts of the Department of Justice.
A spokesperson for USCIS confirmed to CBS News that the administration is "considering multiple options" to address a backlog of over a million applications, which it attributes to the "dangerous open border policies of the Biden administration."
The spokesperson added that the measure "would allow USCIS to avoid wasting time on asylum applications that it would otherwise refer to immigration proceedings and would enable undocumented foreigners to have their cases heard by a judge."
The proposal would not completely eliminate interviews: cases that fall under legal exceptions to the one-year deadline—such as severe illnesses, deficiencies in legal representation, or unaccompanied minors—could still receive an interview before a decision is made.
However, the initiative has raised alarm among immigrant advocates.
Conchita Cruz, co-executive director of the Asylum Seekers Defense Project (ASAP), warned that the regulation could "incorrectly" place applicants in deportation proceedings without allowing them to explain why they submitted their applications after the deadline.
Cruz noted that there are "many reasons" why applicants may submit their applications more than a year after entering the country, "including because they have been living in the country with a temporary status, such as a visa."
"The government would be changing the rules for immigrants who have been navigating a complex immigration process, often for many years," the lawyer added.
The magnitude of the accumulated backlog is the government's main argument to justify the change: USCIS had 1.5 million asylum applications pending by the end of 2025, while the immigration courts of the Department of Justice recorded 3.3 million pending cases as of March 2026, of which 2.3 million involve asylum applications.
This proposal adds to a series of measures that the Trump administration has implemented to restrict access to the asylum system since the beginning of its second term.
In November 2025, USCIS froze all asylum decisions after it was revealed that the suspect in an attack on two National Guard soldiers in Washington D.C. was an Afghan who had been granted asylum.
That pause was partially reduced in March 2026, but it remains in effect for citizens of 39 countries included in Trump's travel ban proclamation, including Cuba.
Since May 29, USCIS is also charging an annual fee of $102 to asylum applications that have been pending for over a year, at risk of denial if not paid within 30 days.
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