Lawyers for Immigration and Customs Enforcement plan to aggressively go after immigration attorneys accused of filing false asylum claims, according to a new report.
CBS News noted that the top attorney at the Department of Homeland Security had sent out a memo instructing ICE attorneys to create "anti-fraud policies" that align with federal anti-fraud laws. The memo states that the action "should include enforcement against immigration attorneys filing false asylum claims in immigration court."
"For many years, millions of illegal aliens have committed fraud on our immigration system," DHS General Counsel James Percival wrote in the memo to ICE obtained by the outlet. "In no place is this more rampant than in immigration court."
The memo states that attorneys argue that "virtually every illegal alien" faces persecution or torture from their country of origin, and that asylum seeking was supposed to be for "unique and narrow circumstances."
Some attorneys who have worked within the immigration system and handled asylum cases in the past worried that the memo has less to do with cracking down on bogus asylum claims and more to do with intimidating attorneys who take asylum cases.
"There's a difference between a weak case, a frivolous claim and a fraudulent claim," attorney Victoria Slatton told Bloomberg Law. "I fear that the whole reason for this memo going out is to intimidate attorneys like me who have legitimate claims."
Slatton, an immigration attorney and former asylum officer at DHS, acknowledged to Bloomberg Law that there are attorneys who take advantage of the system, but disputed the memo's suggestion that the practice is widespread.
Jennifer Bade, founder of the Bade Law Group, told Bloomberg Law that the memo was short on specifics and details.
"This is already law. This is not new," Bade told Bloomberg Law, referring to the federal statute the DHS memo cited. "It's incredibly vague. I would love to know what their anti-fraud policies are."
.png?w=600)
