If an unaccompanied child missed an asylum interview because an eligible request to move it was denied or went unanswered, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) must offer another date. A November 10 order from a federal court in Maryland also requires the agency to offer another interview to a child who attended after a request was wrongly denied under a temporary restraining order.
The October 30 restraining order required the agency to generate written notices at least 21 days before scheduled interviews and promptly send them to the child and counsel. It restored a first rescheduling as a matter of course and a further rescheduling for good cause. A November 6 order extended those protections until the court rules on a motion for a preliminary injunction.
For a child who missed the interview, the November 10 order requires USCIS to review failure-to-appear notices issued from noon Eastern on October 30 through close of business on November 9. If the notice resulted from an eligible request being denied or going unanswered, USCIS must immediately withdraw the failure-to-appear finding and contact the child and counsel to offer another date.
If the interview went ahead after a request was denied in violation of the temporary order, USCIS must offer a new interview. The agency must also review referral notices issued during the same period and rescind those based on interviews held in violation of the order during that period.
For interviews that went ahead, the dispute was over what USCIS could consider before offering another interview. In its November 6 filing, the agency proposed looking at whether the child had made an initial showing of eligibility for asylum and whether another interview might change the result. The court rejected that approach on November 9, and in a filing that day, USCIS said it would offer another interview when a request had been denied in violation of the temporary order and the interview went ahead. The remedy gives the child another chance to be heard; it does not grant asylum.
The November 10 order lists asylum office email addresses for rescheduling problems and requires offices to respond to covered requests by phone or email within 24 hours whenever possible. By November 17, USCIS must send each relevant office a list of children who asked to reschedule from noon Eastern on October 30 through close of business on November 9 and whose requests went unanswered or were denied in violation of the order. The offices are to contact affected children promptly to reschedule. November 17 is an agency deadline for sending those lists; the order sets no filing deadline for children and does not promise interviews by that date.