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Asylum seekers facing new rules for entry into US

By: Santiago Caicedo

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A new rule announced Thursday from the Department of Homeland Security allows asylum officers to decide if an immigrant has a credible fear of persecution and allow them into the U.S., instead of adding that case to the more than a million others on the docket in the immigration court system. 

"We do understand as people come here in the United States they are seeking for refuge and so relief needs to be fast," said Lana Joseph, an immigration attorney based out of Atlanta.

Joseph helps migrants who speak Haitian creole and French. She believes the new order won't give migrants enough time to gather important evidence to claim asylum.

They'll have between 21 to 45 days to present their case.

Documents from Haiti could take more than three months to arrive, and that's not counting the time needed to translate them into English.

"A hundred officers cannot process efficiently tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers," said Michael Knowles, Union president Local 1924, American Federation of Government Employees.

Knowles called the new rule historic, but it would only apply to migrants looking to live in Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark or San Francisco.

DHS said it will begin processing migrants under the new rule at two detention facilities in Texas, but have not said exactly which ones.

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