Asylum Policies for Unaccompanied Children Compared with Expedited Removal Policies for Unauthorized Adults: In Brief

Summary

The sheer number of Central American children coming to the United States who are not accompanied by a parent or legal guardian and who lack proper immigration documents is raising complex and competing sets of humanitarian concerns and immigration control issues. Adults and families from the same three countries—El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras—have also been coming in increasing numbers over the same period. Current law provides that unaccompanied alien children (also referred to as unaccompanied children) are treated differently than adults or children with their parents who come to the United States without proper immigration documents. This report focuses on how unaccompanied alien children are treated in comparison to unauthorized adults and families with children in the specific contexts of asylum and expedited removal.

Foreign nationals apprehended along the border or arriving at a U.S. port who lack proper immigration documents or who engage in fraud or misrepresentation are placed in expedited removal; however, if they express a fear of persecution, they receive a “credible fear” hearing with a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Bureau (USCIS) asylum officer and—if found credible—are referred to an Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) immigration judge for a hearing. To ultimately receive asylum in the United States, foreign nationals must demonstrate a well-founded fear that if returned home, they will be persecuted based upon one of five characteristics: race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008 revised the procedures and policies for those unaccompanied alien children who file for asylum, most notably requiring that unaccompanied children from contiguous countries (i.e., Canada and Mexico) be screened for possible trafficking risks and asylum claims. Subsequently, the Administration opted to screen all unaccompanied children for possible asylum claims. In addition, the TVPRA gives USCIS asylum officers “initial jurisdiction over any asylum application filed by” an unaccompanied alien child.

Only a small portion of the unaccompanied children apprehended by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have requested asylum with USCIS thus far. While the numbers requesting asylum have increased, they have not increased at as fast a rate as the overall increase in apprehensions of unaccompanied children. Through the third quarter of FY2014, USCIS reports that they have adjudicated 167 cases and granted asylum to 108 unaccompanied children. Only two of these approved cases were for unaccompanied children apprehended in FY2014. All of the other approved cases were for unaccompanied children apprehended in prior years.

This report builds on a set of CRS reports on issues surrounding unaccompanied alien children: CRS Report R43599, Unaccompanied Alien Children: An Overview, by Lisa Seghetti, Alison Siskin, and Ruth Ellen Wasem; CRS Report IN10107, Unaccompanied Alien Children: A Processing Flow Chart, by Lisa Seghetti; CRS Report R43628, Unaccompanied Alien Children: Potential Factors Contributing to Recent Immigration, coordinated by William A. Kandel; CRS Report R43623, Unaccompanied Alien Children—Legal Issues: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions, by Kate M. Manuel and Michael John Garcia; and CRS Report R41731, Central America Regional Security Initiative: Background and Policy Issues for Congress, by Peter J. Meyer and Clare Ribando Seelke.