Press Releases

 The U.S. Departments of Justice and Homeland Security issued a third country asylum rule to enhance the integrity of the asylum process by closing a loophole within current immigration law that have led to meritless asylum claims.

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE MIKE JOHNSON (LA-04) RELEASED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT:

“One of the root causes of our current immigration crisis is the sharp increase in fraudulent asylum claims at the southern border. With this influx, resources reserved for those truly seeking asylum have been strained, and our immigration laws have been ignored. I have been on the forefront of this issue since coming to Congress, and I am proud to stand with the Trump administration in their efforts to prevent fraud and abuse in the asylum system.”

BACKGROUND

The Trump administration’s joint Interim Final Rule (IFR) makes immigrants ineligible for asylum if they have passed through another country on their way to the U.S. border without applying for protection. The only exceptions are for victims of human trafficking, asylum-seekers who requested protection in a country but were denied, and immigrants who travelled to the United States through countries not part of international refugee treaties.

Last month, Johnson introduced legislation addressing lapses in asylum laws by allowing the Department of Homeland Security to remove asylum seekers to safe third countries where they can have access to a full and fair procedure for determining a claim for asylum.