Restructuring the Asylum Process

This Article critically analyzes present and proposed asylum procedures. The article focuses on three significant problems in the asylum process: (1) Structural defects within both the INS and the State Dept. Bureau of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs ("BHRHA"); (2) the conflict between the bureaucratic goals of the INS and legal norms; and (3) the maintenance of a foreign policy contrary to eliminating asylum flight. The article proposes significant changes in the asylum process, which would meet the organizational objectives of the INS while protecting asylum applicants from the erroneous denial of their claims. The article further proposes the elimination of the role of the district director and the BHRHA in the asylum process; the maintenance of federal and administrative review; and a change in the burden and standard of proof to require an applicant to prove a prima facie case for asylum subject to INS rebuttal.