Silver Spring, MD — HIAS is a plaintiff in a new lawsuit challenging a Trump administration rule that allows asylum seekers to be sent to immigration court without first having an opportunity to participate in an asylum interview. For people fleeing persecution, violence, and other dangers, that interview can be their only opportunity to sit across from an asylum officer and explain, in their own words, why they cannot safely return home.
“U.S. law gives every asylum applicant who is seeking safety the right to tell their story and explain the dangers they faced in their home countries and why it would be unsafe for them to return. The asylum interview is at times the only way ordinary people fleeing persecution have to be heard – to feel that their stories matter. But this rule will deny many people their voice and their due process, and the result will be devastating. People fleeing violence and persecution must be able to find safety, and this country must be able to treat them with respect, compassion, and dignity,” said HIAS President & CEO Beth Oppenheim.
The asylum process can be difficult to navigate, particularly for people who have fled their homes under traumatic circumstances. Many asylum seekers have limited English proficiency, little understanding of the U.S. legal system, limited access to legal representation, or difficulty meeting the complex requirements of a written application. An interview gives people a chance to explain what happened to them, clarify their applications, and make sure their stories are heard by the person evaluating their request for protection.
The administration published the interim final rule on July 28, 2026. The rule eliminates the previous guarantee that certain affirmative asylum applicants will receive an asylum interview and allows U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to refer their cases directly to immigration court without one. Under the new process, hundreds of thousands of current and future asylum seekers could be referred straight into deportation proceedings without ever being able to state their case. It is a way to fast-track vulnerable people through a process increasingly designed to deport them.
HIAS is proud to be a plaintiff in the lawsuit, filed by the National Immigrant Justice Center, Human Rights First, the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, alongside Immigration Equality, Oasis Legal Services, and Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the rule and its impact on asylum seekers’ due process rights.
For more than 140 years, HIAS has witnessed both the devastating consequences of turning people away and the life-saving power of welcome. Today, HIAS provides services to refugees, asylum seekers, and other forcibly displaced and stateless people around the world and advocates for their fundamental rights. HIAS’ legal and pro-bono teams provide legal assistance to thousands of people annually, and we are suing now because our ability to do that could be gravely affected by this rule change.
This lawsuit is one of multiple legal challenges that HIAS has filed against the Trump administration’s attacks on refugees and asylum seekers. We will continue to fight for a system in which people fleeing persecution have a meaningful opportunity to seek safety, tell their stories, and be treated with dignity.
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