U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) issued an alert noting that a U.S. district court’s September 11, 2020, preliminary injunction in Casa de Maryland Inc. v. Wolf provides limited injunctive relief to members of two organizations, CASA de Maryland (CASA) and the Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), who file Forms I-589 or I-765 as asylum applicants. Specifically, the court preliminarily enjoined enforcement of the following regulatory changes for CASA and ASAP members:
- Removal of the 30-day adjudicatory period for Form I-765 based on an underlying asylum application;
- The requirement to submit biometric information as part of the filing of a Form I-765 based on an asylum application;
- The 365-day waiting period for employment authorization document (EAD) eligibility based on an underlying asylum application;
- The bar on EAD eligibility for asylum applicants subject to the one-year filing bar for asylum, applicable to a Form I-765 based on an asylum application filed on or after August 25, 2020;
- The discretionary review rule providing that the agency has discretion as to whether to grant a Form I-765 based on an asylum application; and
- Removal of the rule deeming a Form I-589, Application for Asylum and for Withholding of Removal, complete if USCIS does not reject it within 30 days of receipt.
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