Miller Mayer immigration attorney Steve Yale-Loehr was quoted by Voice of America in “Immigration Experts Contrast U.S. Support for Ukrainian, Afghan Refugees.” He agreed that the United States was quick to announce temporary protected status for Ukrainian refugees but noted that both Ukrainians and Afghans have to go through the normal immigration system. “And we don’t have a good system for allowing people to come to the United States quickly,” he said, noting that for Afghan refugees, the humanitarian parole process has been overwhelmed by more than 40,000 applicants, many of whom have been waiting for six months for a decision on their cases. “I don’t see how the administration is going to be able to speed up processing with the expected flood of humanitarian parole applications from Ukrainians. And if the administration does speed it up for Ukrainians, I think there will be legitimate complaints about why they were able to do it for Ukrainians so much more quickly than for Afghans and people from other countries,” he said. Find the article here.

Steve was quoted by the Wall Street Journal in “Muslim U.S. Citizens Questioned About Faith at Border, ACLU Lawsuit Alleges.” The question of whether a person is still fully protected by the First Amendment at the U.S. border has rarely been addressed by courts, he noted: “U.S. citizens have constitutional rights when they enter the United States. But the government also has an interest in protecting the country from terrorists. Courts need to weigh these competing interests.” Find the article here.

Steve was quoted by Univision in “Government Issues a New Asylum Rule for Foreigners Subject to Accelerated Deportation.” He said, “The new rule is likely to be challenged in court. The Department of Homeland Security is about to publish a final rule that revises the nation’s asylum procedures. In general, it would allow USCIS asylum officers to initially hear asylum claims instead of people appearing before an immigration judge. The goal is to have a more streamlined asylum system so that people get a decision in months instead of years in our backlogged immigration courts.” However, he noted, “conservative states, like Texas, are likely to challenge the new rule in court for encouraging more asylum claims. So the new rule may not come into effect for some time. But if implemented, it would help alleviate immigration court backlogs and could provide a fairer and faster system for asylum seekers.” Find the article here [Spanish, with English translation available].