Executive Office for Immigration Review December 11, 2020 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On June 15, 2020, the Department of Homeland Security (``DHS'') and the Department of Justice (``DOJ'') (collectively ``the Departments'') published a notice of proposed rulemaking (``NPRM'' or ``proposed rule'') that would amend the regulations governing credible fear determinations. The proposed rule would make it so that individuals found to have a credible fear will have their claims for asylum, withholding of removal under section 241(b)(3) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (``INA'' or ``the Act'') (``statutory withholding of removal''), or protection under the regulations issued pursuant to the legislation implementing the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (``CAT''), adjudicated by an immigration judge within the Executive Office for Immigration Review (``EOIR'') in streamlined proceedings (rather than under section 240 of the Act), and to specify what standard of review applies in such streamlined proceedings. The Departments further proposed changes to the regulations regarding asylum, statutory withholding of removal, and withholding and deferral of removal under the Convention Against Torture (``CAT'') regulations. The Departments also proposed amendments related to the standards for adjudication of applications for asylum and statutory withholding. This final rule (``rule'' or ``final rule'') responds to comments received in response to the NPRM and generally adopts the NPRM with few substantive changes.