This archive report was first published on 26 June 2020.
On June 25, 2020, the US Supreme Court delivered a significant blow to asylum seekers, ruling that they do not have the right to a federal court hearing if they fail to prove their claim of persecution.
The court's decision, which was met with criticism from human rights groups, allows the Trump administration to expedite the deportation process for asylum seekers who initially fail to prove their claim of persecution.
The case in question involved Vijayakumar Thuraissigiam, a Sri Lankan native who was arrested at the Mexican border in 2017 and immediately placed in accelerated removal proceedings.
Thuraissigiam, a member of Sri Lanka's Tamil ethnic minority, claimed to have a credible fear of persecution, but asylum officers and an immigration judge ruled against him.
"While aliens who have established connections in this country have due process rights in deportation proceedings, the court long ago held that Congress is entitled to set the conditions for an alien’s lawful entry into this country and that, as a result, an alien at the threshold of initial entry cannot claim any greater rights under the Due Process Clause," the Supreme Court’s majority decision reads.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, criticized the ruling, saying it "fails to live up to the Constitution’s bedrock principle that individuals deprived of their liberty have their day in court, and this includes asylum-seekers."
