Asylum Seekers Face Uncertainty at the Border After Program Suspension

• Asylum Seekers Face Uncertainty
• Rapid Deportations Without Hearings
• 2025 Migration Crisis

The southern U.S. border continues to receive hundreds of migrants daily, arriving from countries as varied as Eritrea, Guatemala, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan.

Many of them arrive hoping to apply for asylum, claiming persecution based on religion, political beliefs, or sexual orientation.

However, since January 20—the day Donald Trump resumed the presidency—the rules changed drastically for those seeking protection on U.S. soil.

The president signed a series of executive orders suspending the asylum system, which he described as part of an “invasion” of the United States.

2025 Migration Crisis: Applications Without Hearings and Immediate Deportations

“We feel betrayed,” said a 36-year-old Russian citizen who applied for asylum after being discovered with evidence of electoral fraud in his country.

He, along with his wife and young son, was deported to Costa Rica on February 26, without ever being interviewed by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer.

RELATED: Supreme Court Upholds Block on Trump: Cannot Use Wartime Law to Deport Venezuelans

“We weren’t given an ICE officer to speak with. We weren’t given an interview. No one asked me what happened,” the asylum seeker lamented.

According to attorneys and human rights advocates, migrants now face an opaque and ever-shifting system with no clear procedures or basic guarantees.

Attorneys Report Collapse in Asylum Process

“I don’t think it’s entirely clear to anyone what happens when people show up and ask for asylum,” said Bella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council.

In this new landscape, some asylum seekers are deported almost immediately after brief exchanges with officials, while others are held indefinitely by ICE.

In many cases, the asylum process has been replaced by evaluations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture—a much stricter and harder-to-meet standard.

Meanwhile, a tangle of lawsuits has emerged aiming to halt the restrictions imposed by Trump, led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

In one such lawsuit, the ACLU described the presidential proclamation as “as illegal as it is unprecedented.”

For its part, the government argues that its declaration of an “invasion” cannot be reviewed by the courts and constitutes a “nonjusticiable political question.”

Meanwhile, the effects are already being felt on the ground, with a sharp drop in calls to immigration legal aid offices.

Paulina Reyes-Perrariz, managing attorney at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center in San Diego, said her office used to receive between 10 and 15 asylum-related calls per day.

Russian Family Faces Uncertainty After Deportation to Costa Rica

“That number has dropped to almost zero,” she said. “It’s really hard to consult and advise people when we don’t know what the process is.”

One of the most criticized decisions was the mass cancellation of asylum interviews following Trump’s inauguration.

The Russian family, for example, had waited nine months in Mexico for an appointment, scheduled for February 2.

However, on January 20, the appointment was canceled with no option to appeal. The man recounted that they went to the San Diego border crossing, were detained, handcuffed, and later flown to Costa Rica. “Only the children were not in chains,” he said.

Criticism of the System and Allegations of Abuse

In the first months of the year, more than 200 migrants were sent to Costa Rica and another 300 to Panama as part of the “bridges” program for fast-track deportations.

Although many of the detainees have already left the Costa Rican center where they were housed, this family decided to stay, with no clear destination and no possibility of returning to Russia.

They spend their days teaching their son, organizing volleyball games, and clinging to a routine to survive emotionally.

“I’m not angry at the United States. I understand they want to crack down on illegal immigration,” the man said. But he cannot shake the feeling that he was denied the chance to tell his story. “I failed them,” he admitted. “I think that every day: I failed them,” ABC News reported on the 2025 migration crisis.