U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, No. 1:25-cv-00791
What is the government doing and why are we challenging it?
On December 18, 2024, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a new rule that imposes unlawful barriers to protection for people fleeing persecution and torture in their home countries. The Mandatory Bars Rule, which went into effect on January 17, 2025, requires asylum officers conducting initial fear screenings to assess whether individuals are subject to any of five mandatory bars that would render them ineligible for asylum or withholding of removal, a related form of humanitarian protection. If it merely “appears” that a bar may apply in an individual’s case, the officer can deny them the opportunity even to apply for asylum or withholding of removal.
Prior to the issuance of this rule, mandatory bars were considered only during a full merits hearing before an immigration judge, due to the legally and factually complex nature of such determinations. At the initial fear screening stage, people are typically detained in facilities notorious for abysmal conditions, exhausted from their journeys, and navigating the process alone, without an attorney. They have no access to documentary evidence pertinent to their legal claims, including evidence that is essential to show that a mandatory bar is not applicable to their case. In this context, expecting an asylum seeker to procure evidence out of thin air and present a nuanced legal argument to refute an asylum officer’s allegations is absurd.
What is at stake?
Depriving people seeking asylum of full and fair hearings on their claims places refugees at risk of wrongful deportation to countries where they face persecution and torture. Permitting asylum officers to bar people from even seeking protection will result in erroneous legal determinations with life-or-death consequences.
What’s the status of this case?
CGRS and our co-counsel filed this legal challenge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on March 17, 2025. We are asking the court to vacate the Mandatory Bars Rule, so that people seeking asylum at our borders are able to fairly present their claims for protection, as required under our law. We are also asking the court to vacate a companion rule issued by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, which authorizes immigration judges to sign off on premature judgments made by asylum officers implementing the Mandatory Bars Rule.
On March 19, 2025, our individual plaintiff E.Q. filed an emergency motion seeking a stay of his removal order. We are asking the government not to deport E.Q. to Afghanistan until he has received a full and fair adjudication of his claims for protection.
Who’s involved?
CGRS is co-counsel, along with the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, the National Immigrant Justice Center, Human Rights First, and pro bono counsel Crowell & Moring. Together, we represent organizational plaintiffs that serve people seeking asylum, including many whose ability to seek protection is threatened by the Mandatory Bars Rule: Amica Center, the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, and RAICES.
We also represent an individual plaintiff, E.Q., an Afghan asylum seeker who sought refuge in the United States after being threatened by the Taliban, which accused him of being an “American spy.” An asylum officer believed that the Taliban had targeted E.Q. but ordered his deportation anyway, hypothesizing that he might be subject to a mandatory bar to asylum due to his employment at a vehicle repair shop that members of the Taliban had occasionally patronized. Under the Mandatory Bars Rule, E.Q. had no opportunity to defend himself against the erroneous assertion that his employment constituted “material support” for the very group threatening his life.
How can you help?
Please contact your Senators and members of Congress to make your voice heard and remind them that President Trump does not have the authority to disregard our asylum laws.
Need more information?
Contact Brianna Krong, Communications and Advocacy Manager, at krongbrianna@uclawsf.edu.
Resources for Advocates
Attorneys representing clients who may be subject to restrictions on asylum eligibility can request assistance from CGRS through our Technical Assistance Library.