The Donald Trump administration issues a rule that sends hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers to immigration courts without initial interviews by US Citizenship and Immigration Services, a step officials say will trim a roughly 1.4M case backlog at US Citizenship and Immigration Services by about 30 percent.The change ends many affirmative interviews for entrants, expands mega master hearings that can handle 100-plus cases, adds new fees and waits for work permits, and follows Board of Immigration Appeals decisions that narrow asylum eligibility and terminations of temporary protected status for some nationalities.Joseph Edlow and
James Percival defend the measure as necessary to prevent system abuse and enforce immigration laws, but immigration advocates and legal experts say the rule will increase denials, speed deportations and exacerbate humanitarian risks after a Guatemalan couple died following deportation.