COVID-19 & Asylum Seekers

Some 35 immigration court judges quit the bench in 2019, swelling an exodus that began in 2016 when President Donald Trump took office. Although hiring has also increased, that means more cases are being heard by judges with limited experience, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.

COVID-19 forced postponement of our 2020 Justice Conference. But we're keeping justice at the forefront of our reporting and our conversations—join us for an online Talks @ Pulitzer series: Focus on Justice.

What do U.S. policies mean for migrants and their families today? What has it meant even before the pandemic including for veterans deported after serving in the U.S. armed forces.

The program, known as remain in Mexico, requires that most asylum seekers wait in Mexico for court dates in front of a U.S. immigration judge.

As part of the special "Pandemia: Latinos in Crisis," CBS News interviewed detainees who fear the rapid spread of the coronavirus inside ICE facilities.

Those conditions are almost entirely dependent on states on both sides of the border gaining control of COVID-19, which has eluded them so far.

The bar association's letter contends that since mid-March some 40,000 people, including asylum seekers and unaccompanied children, have been expelled at U.S.-Mexico and U.S.-Canada border processing centers under new administration policies that flout U.S. and international law.