Under the proposal, routine asylum cases no longer would automatically be referred to the overwhelmed immigration court system managed by the Justice Department but would be overseen by asylum officers from U.S. The reason for the change is that more people have been seeking asylum under U.S. law, particularly at the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years. A USCIS asylum officer determines whether they meet the criteria of someone facing persecution in their homeland because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. The theory behind the proposed change is that experienced USCIS asylum officers can more quickly sort cases. USCIS already has has more than 400,000 asylum cases pending adjudication.

Source: ABC News August 18, 2021 16:27 UTC