Judge restores 21-day notice for children's asylum interviews
A Maryland judge blocked USCIS rules that gave unaccompanied minors days or hours of warning. The order expires Nov. 13.
A federal judge in Maryland has ordered U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to go back to giving unaccompanied children and their lawyers at least 21 days' written notice before an asylum interview. Judge Brendan Hurson's orderPDF, issued Oct. 30 in The Door v. Edlow, also puts on hold an Aug. 21 rule that let an interview be moved only for "exceptional circumstances."
The earlier system returns: one automatic rescheduling and a second for good cause. In weighing a request, USCIS must consider whether the lawyer can attend, scheduling conflicts, time to gather evidence and whether the child can make it.
Hurson ruled without a hearing, after the government filed its response. The order expires at noon Friday, Nov. 13, unless the court extends it. The government had 48 hours to file a report on what it did to comply.
Why the notice matters
Under U.S. law, an unaccompanied child is under 18, has no immigration status and has no parent or guardian available in the country. The process starts at the USCIS Asylum Office with a nonadversarial interview. Only if the child is referred does the case go before an immigration judge. The court noted that the child gets "only one chance" at that decision.
The plaintiffs, legal aid groups that include The Door and the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, sued Oct. 15. They allege that since September interviews have been set with a few days' warning and sometimes less than 24 hours, when preparing a child can take 10 to 30 hours per client. In a joint statement, they called the order a restoration of "basic procedural protections."
According to the lawsuit, the shorter notice traces to an internal memo to USCIS Director Joseph Edlow urging him to drop the requirement. Those are allegations, which the judge accepted as true only at this stage. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin is also a defendant. The suit also challenges a deadline for cases of detained minors, which this order does not touch.
The order covers children of any nationality, not just Mexicans, and there is no public figure on how many had interviews set on short notice. If the court neither extends it nor converts it into a preliminary injunction, both policies could return Nov. 13.
