‘Credible Fear’ Findings Plummet As Tougher Asylum Standards Take Effect

> Pass rates in credible fear reviews — the first step in the asylum process — have fallen dramatically in 2018
> The decline comes amid efforts by the Trump administration to crack down on fraudulent or frivolous asylum claims
> The pass rate for credible fear reviews across the immigration court system is now less than half what it was in 2017

Findings of credible fear have fallen dramatically in the first six months of 2018 as the Trump administration has moved to narrow the guidelines that determine who is eligible for asylum, according to a report released Monday by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

A credible fear determination is the first step in the asylum process, in which an asylum officer interviews a petitioner to determine if he has a legitimate fear of persecution in his home country. If the officer rejects the claim, the asylum seeker can ask an immigration judge to re-evaluate the decision in what’s known as a credible fear review (CFR).

Government data analyzed by TRAC show that, starting in January, the rate of positive findings in CFRs began to fall sharply. Just 15 percent of CFRs across the immigration court system resulted in a favorable determination by June, compared to an average of about 32 percent in the last six months of 2017.

Read the rest from Will Racke HERE.