summary deportation of asylum-seekers, unless they are able to pass an interview with the Asylum Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”), generally within days after entering DHS custody.19 If the individual does successfully pass the screening interview, they are then subject to 240 removal proceedings. Therefore, expedited removal grants no immigration benefit but merely acts as a screening process to exclude asylum seekers and other migrants from access to a full hearing. Practically speaking, individuals at Karnes typically have made some attempt to demonstrate a fear of return to their home country to CBP when apprehended at the border or at a port of entry at the southern international land border. It is often the CBP officer who makes the decision to place an asylum seeker in expedited removal rather than section 240 removal proceedings. The individual then arrives at Karnes, and USCIS conducts either a Credible Fear Interview or Reasonable Fear Interview depending on which standard applies to their circumstances. Interviews consist of questions related to a person’s fear of returning to their home country and provide a limited opportunity for legal consultation. At times, an interviewing officer will allow a statement from a legal consultant or representative. At Karnes in 2019, credible and reasonable fear interviews were typically conducted in a small room with an asylum officer physically or telephonically present and a contract interpreter present telephonically. If an individual had an attorney to consult with for the interview, that attorney would also be present by telephone. Within the next week or two following an interview, USCIS would issue their decision. If an asylum seeker receives a positive credible fear decision,
IN E XPE DIT ED REMOVAL PROCEEDINGS Immigrants are screened in a credible fear interview for possible relief in the form of asylum, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). Those subject to a reinstated removal order are not eligible for asylum and undergo a reasonable fear interview rather than a credible fear interview. In order to successfully pass a credible fear interview, an asylum seeker must meet the legal standard of demonstrating a “significant possibility that he or she could establish in a full hearing before an Immigration Judge that he or she has been persecuted or has a well-founded fear of persecution or harm on account of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion if returned to his or her country.” In reinstatement proceedings, that legal burden of proof is heightened to a “reasonable fear,” or “reasonable possibility” rather than a “credible fear” or “significant possibility.”
19. Individuals who had previously entered the United States and were ordered removed, then entered again without authorization, are typically placed into reinstatement of removal proceedings, which consists of a similar process as expedited removal but a higher legal burden and more limited form of relief and immigration benefits. 8 CFR § 135.3. (b)Reinstatement and expedited removal proceedings are functionally similar, but those with prior removal orders are held to higher standards in their interviews. The two processes are often jointly referred to as “expedited removal” in terms of policy application because of their truncated processes and the imminent risk of deportation. Unless denoted otherwise, for the purposes of this report, “expedited removal” will refer to the policy choice to swiftly deport recently arrived migrants under both expedited removal and reinstatement of removal proceedings.
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