LOS ANGELES ASYLUM OFFICE PICKS UP THE PACE OF ASYLUM INTERVIEWS

Asylum applicants with cases pending at the Los Angeles Asylum Office located in Anaheim, California, should be aware that the pace of asylum interview scheduling appears to have increased considerably.

Over the past five years, the pace of the asylum process has slowed to a crawl. Central Americans (including unaccompanied minors) crossing the Southern Border of the United States had over that time period, resorted to requesting asylum, typically seeking out Border Patrol agents after crossing, to make that request. Those migrants would then be detained and screened to determine whether they should be permitted to pursue asylum and if determined to have demonstrated a "credible" or "reasonable" fear of returning to their home countries, would often be released and allowed to pursue an asylum claim before an Immigration Judge. This asylum "pre-screening," is conducted by asylum officers, who would typically otherwise conduct asylum interviews for non-detained applicants at the Asylum Office. The commitment of resources and officers to detained migrant asylum seekers was perhaps, the primary reason for the slow-down in the asylum process.

Since the beginning of the year however, I have noticed the process of interview scheduling quickening for my asylum cases filed in 2012 (and for some filed in 2013). We are now receiving a fairly constant flow of asylum interview notices for such clients who are being scheduled for interviews on very short notice (roughly two to three weeks). The Los Angeles Asylum Office now also has a policy that supplementary documents in the asylum case should be filed no later than two weeks before the interview. This means, for Clients who are not prepped and ready, with their supplements filed timely, that additional delays in their cases may be required.

If you are an asylum applicant, with a case filed in 2012, 2013, or 2014, it is my opinion that you should be preparing in earnest for your asylum interview, including conducting interview prep so that the attorney might understand the nuances of your testimony and what types of supplementary documentation may be appropriate for the particular case. Applicants whose cases have been pending for such a duration have a responsibility to be active participants in their cases, and not wait until an interview is scheduled to prepare, finding themselves out of time to submit supplements, or to be emotionally ready for a fairly intense interview process of several hours.

My clients with cases filed between 2012 and 2014 should be contacting my office immediately to schedule prep and documents review. If you are an unrepresented asylum seeker, or are being represented by other counsel from whom you have not heard for some time and your case was filed between 2012 and 2014, you should be preparing yourself and your supplements now, or should be contacting your counsel for further instructions.