US CIS has been sued on behalf of asylum applicants who are not able to get work permit

American Immigration Council and Partners Sue

U.S. Immigration Agencies Over Asylum “Clock”

December 20, 2011

Washington, D.C.— Last week, the American Immigration Council’s Legal Action Center

(LAC) filed a nationwide class action lawsuit against U.S. Citizenship and Immigration

Services (USCIS) and the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in federal court in

Seattle. The lawsuit alleges widespread problems with the asylum “clock”—the system that the

government uses to determine when immigrants with pending asylum applications become

eligible to obtain work authorization in the United States. The class certification motion

describes the nationwide impact of these policies.

The complaint, co-filed with the Northwest Immigrants Rights Project, Gibbs Houston Pauw,

and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, was submitted on behalf of untold numbers of

asylum applicants wrongfully denied work authorization due to unlawful agency policies and

practices. The named plaintiffs include asylum seekers who have pursued their cases for years

without work authorization—including a man from China who initially filed his asylum

application in 2003.

With limited exceptions, federal law requires USCIS to grant work authorization to any person

with an asylum application pending for 180 days. In calculating this period, however, USCIS

relies on determinations made by immigration judges who work for EOIR. As a result,

arbitrary EOIR policies on when the “clock” should start and stop—combined with growing

backlogs in U.S. immigration courts—have unlawfully prevented asylum seekers from

working. The suit alleges these policies violate the Constitution, federal statutes, and governing

regulations.

“This lawsuit targets a problem that has plagued asylum applicants for far too long,” said

Benjamin Johnson, Executive Director of the American Immigration Council. “Asylum seekers

who have fled persecution in their native countries and have made good faith efforts to comply

with the asylum process should not be arbitrarily deprived of the ability to earn a living while

their applications are pending. This lawsuit challenges the longstanding disregard for basic due

process protections for this vulnerable population.”