WE CAN'T DITCH NATIVISM FAST ENOUGH:

The Trump administration's unabated assault on asylum is affecting Uighurs fleeing China.

In July, Mahire Alim's four year-old son had a toothache, and it wouldn't go away. Alim and her husband Adli Bekri* are Uighur asylum seekers who arrived in the U.S. in late February, fleeing both ethnic persecution and an encroaching pandemic. But they can't afford the medical care--at least $3,500--for their son's urgent dental treatment. They can't afford it because they can't work legally in the U.S.

The couples' asylum applications have been pending with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) since April 20, but according to two new asylum rules proposed by the Trump administration that will take effect August 25, they won't be eligible to apply for work permits this month. The first rule, experts have said, would fundamentally devastate the asylum system, drastically changing the very definition of persecution under the law. Under the second rule, an asylum seeker has to wait 365 days from the day they file their asylum application to apply for a work permit, up from 150 days. The rule also stipulates that, after they file their applications, the government no longer would have to process their application within 30 days; in theory, they could let the application linger indefinitely.

Notably, asylum seekers who cross the border illegally--not at a port of entry--are ineligible for work permits, "unless and until an immigration judge finds that they qualify for an exception." But the system set up by the administration also consigns asylum seekers who used all legal means to seek refuge to endless uncertainty and anxiety.

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