Overview
- The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the pared‑back 2020 rule takes effect December 31, retaining substantive public‑health and national‑security bars to asylum and suspension of removal.
- USCIS’s December 2 policy memo pausing processing of all Form I‑589 asylum applications remains in place while procedures are reviewed.
- DHS and DOJ removed several 2020 procedural changes—especially on credible‑fear interviews—to avoid conflicts with later regulations, while keeping the core health‑ and security‑related provisions.
- The rule preserves authority to label countries or regions with epidemics as risk zones, enabling stricter eligibility screening for recent entrants from those areas.
- Asylum officers and immigration judges are authorized to consider public‑health risk bars at early stages, with reporting warning of significant impacts and added uncertainty for many Latino applicants.