Attorney General Bonta Opposes Unlawful DHS Rule Fast-Tracking Asylum Seekers into Removal Proceedings Without an Interview

OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta, leading a coalition of 21 attorneys general, submitted a comment letter opposing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) new rule limiting affirmative asylum applicants’ opportunity to participate in an asylum officer interview and explain why they cannot safely return home. The interim final rule (IFR) permits U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to refer these asylum applications directly to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), placing applicants in adversarial removal proceedings in immigration court. DHS estimates the rule could result in roughly 130,000 future affirmative asylum applicants being referred without an interview each year and could affect up to 444,000 cases already pending in EOIR’s asylum backlog. The IFR could further strain an already lengthy process for asylum claims, potentially leading to significant delays or case dismissals that would take an additional financial and mental toll on individuals and families navigating the asylum system.

“As the People’s Attorney, I am committed to ensuring that everyone in California, regardless of their legal status, has access to a fair immigration process,” said Attorney General Bonta. “For decades, affirmative asylum seekers have had the chance to explain to a trained asylum officer why they cannot return home safely because of a fear of persecution, but DHS’s hastily enacted rule illegally takes that opportunity away. We will always fight back against cruel immigration policy and stand up for our immigrant children and communities across the country.”

The IFR pushes asylum applicants directly into an adversarial court proceeding, where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement prosecutor argues against their claim, with the denial rate reaching 94% in June 2026. Further, because immigration judges now frequently deny asylum claims without giving the individual a full merits hearing, many may not even receive a day in court at all. According to the Center for Victims of Torture, 44% of asylum seekers, asylees, and refugees in the U.S. are torture survivors, and the interview portion of the immigration process provides crucial time to explain why an applicant is seeking asylum, particularly for unaccompanied minors and applicants who cannot afford legal representation. 

In the comment letter, Attorney General Bonta and the coalition argue the IFR violates federal law and is particularly harmful for unaccompanied children, who under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act are entitled to have their asylum claims heard through USCIS’s non-adversarial adjudicatory process, not EOIR. Attorney General Bonta and the coalition further assert that the IFR:

• Ignores the evidentiary importance of a non-adversarial asylum interview and does not justify departing from decades of policy;
• Harms state residents by increasing the risk of detention and removal, disrupting employment authorization, and making legal representation even more difficult to obtain for many asylum applicants;
• Will strain state-funded legal service providers, healthcare clinics, and immigrant integration resources, as well as undermine law enforcement interests;
• Strips unaccompanied children of the non-adversarial asylum process Congress guaranteed them under federal law, forcing kids who often have no attorney to navigate an adversarial system built for adults;
• Increases the psychological distress experienced by asylum seekers and their families, compounding trauma many have already experienced fleeing persecution;
• Undermines tax revenue and business income, given immigrants’ critical role in the workforce and broader economy;
• Abandons compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act by circumventing notice and comment requirements when the Rule went immediately into effect on July 28, 2026; and
• Fails to consider reasonable alternatives, such as limiting the rule to future applicants, preserving interviews for unaccompanied children, or hiring more qualified asylum officers. 

Attorney General Bonta has been a consistent advocate for immigrants in California and across the country. In September 2026, Attorney General Rob Bonta, alongside multistate coalitions, secured a final court order blocking the Trump Administration’s cruel restrictions on access to public benefit programs based on immigration status. That same month, he sued to block the Trump Administration’s new unlawful public charge rule. Attorney General Bonta previously led coalitions in submitting comment letters opposing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ proposal that would add new barriers to sponsorship of unaccompanied children and opposing DHS’s proposed rule that would modify filing and eligibility requirements for individuals seeking Employment Authorization Documents based on a pending asylum application.

You can find more on the California Department of Justice’s work to protect California immigrants at oag.ca.gov/immigrant.

In sending this letter, Attorney General Bonta leads the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawai‘i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington.