New Asylum Rule Aims to Eliminate Bogus Claims

Rule will prevent unqualified claims from bogging down the system and help truly qualified asylum seekers, says expert

A group of 10 Haitians illegally cross the Suchiate River on a tube raft from Tecun Uman, Guatemala, to Hidalgo City, Mexico, on June 28, 2019. Many traveled through Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras to get this far. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

WASHINGTON—If asylum-seekers travel through other countries on their way to the U.S. southern border and don’t seek asylum in those countries, they won’t be eligible to apply in the United States, according to a new rule issued by the Trump administration on July 15.

The Third-Country Asylum Rule will be published in the federal register and enacted on July 16. It isn’t retroactive.