DHS Issues New Rule to Alleviate Affirmative Asylum Backlog
Asylum officers can now refer some cases to immigration court without conducting interviews
By Elizabeth Jacobs on July 29, 2026
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently issued a regulation intended to expedite the adjudication of certain affirmative asylum applications by allowing U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers to refer cases directly to immigration judges without first conducting an interview. The rule is designed to reduce USCIS's historic affirmative asylum backlog, which surpassed 1 million pending cases for the first time during the Biden administration and has continued to increase. USCIS now reports approximately 1.43 million pending affirmative asylum applications.
An affirmative asylum application is filed by an alien who is not in removal proceedings and affirmatively seeks asylum with USCIS by submitting Form I-589. If USCIS does not grant the application and the applicant lacks lawful immigration status, DHS generally places the applicant into removal proceedings, where the asylum claim may be renewed before an immigration judge.
The new rule, therefore, will allow USCIS to more quickly remove cases from their docket by referring cases asylum officers believe will not be meritorious to EOIR. Specifically, the rule permits USCIS to refer an application without conducting an interview when an asylum officer determines that the USCIS cannot grant an application because the alien is barred from applying for asylum due to the one-year filing deadline, is barred from a grant of asylum, does not merit a grant as a matter of discretion, or is not eligible on the merits of the claim. The rule also gives USCIS flexibility to issue future policy guidance about which categories of cases should be prioritized by the agency for referral without interview based on evolving trends and agency priorities.
https://cis.org/Jacobs/DHS-Issues-New-Rule-Alleviate-Affirmative-Asylum-Backlog
