Border Patrol will screen asylum requests in new push to restrict claims, memos show
WASHINGTON - Homeland Security officials are making it tougher for people seeking asylum to get over the first hurdle in the lengthy process of gaining U.S. protection, giving new power to Border Patrol agents and taking some discretion away from trained asylum officers, according to internal memos obtained by the Los Angeles Times.
The changes involve the initial interviews that asylum-seekers go through to determine whether they have what U.S. law defines as a "credible fear" of being persecuted in their home country.
"The Asylum Division has been requested to conduct a training for Border Patrol agents in order to prepare them to conduct credible fear interviews," John L. Lafferty,
