Asylum seekers regularly wait five years or more for their cases to be heard, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services had a backlog of 311,000 pending asylum cases as of January 21. The asylum backlog has grown by 1750% over the last five years, according to USCIS. "Delays in the timely processing of asylum applications are detrimental to legitimate asylum seekers," said Francis Cissna, the USCIS director, in a statement. "Lingering backlogs can be exploited and used to undermine national security and the integrity of the asylum system." The Trump administration has sought to change the US immigration system to limit both legal and illegal immigration, arguing that unfettered immigration to the United States presents both a national security and economic risk to the country.

Source: dna February 01, 2018 01:35 UTC