The INS Supervisory Office for Policy & Quality Assurance Asylum Division has released statistics on asylum applications for October 1997. The statistics are listed below. The numbers are useful because they reveal important changes that have occurred in the way the asylum process has changed since major asylum process reform rules went into effect early last year. Some of the more interesting numbers include the following:
- nearly one third of asylum applicants failed to show up for their interviews (presumably because such applicants felt their cases were not meritorious, they failed to receive notice of the hearings, they received immigrant visas in some other status before the interview was to be held, or they left the country before the interview was granted)
- 17% of interviews were cancelled by the INS (no explanation is offered for this surprisingly large number)
- The INS is dividing up its interviews 50/50 between dated cases filed under the old asylum rules and cases filed under the new fast track asylum rules.
- Out of old cases filed, only 23% are being approved by the INS; for new cases, the approval rate is much higher – 77%.
- For October, the largest number of asylum applications came from Mexican nationals; other countries with the largest number of applicants included El Salvador, Haiti, Guatemala, China, India and Iran.
- The busiest of the eight asylum offices is New York, followed by Los Angeles, Newark and Miami
- Based on the October numbers, the office with the highest approval rate is San Francisco (102 approvals and 5 denials); the lowest is Neward (50 approved and 102 denied).
Here are the numbers:
October Asylum Data
Information provided by:
Christine Davidson
Supervisory Asylum Officer for Policy & Quality Assurance
Asylum Division, International Affairs, INS
425 I Streetm NW (Attn: ULLICO, 3rd Floor)
Washington, DC 20536
202-305-2663 (phone)
202-305-2918 (fax)
ASYLUM OFFICE WORKLOAD October 1997 Asylum Workload Month Percent Application Filed 6,004 Received 4,154 69% ABC cases 142 3% Non-ABC cases 4,012 97% Reopened 1,850 31% Interviews Scheduled 18,901 Conducted 5,829 31% No shows 6,198 33% Cancelled by applicant 3,693 20% Cancelled by INS 3,181 17% Interviews Conducted 5,829 Pre-Reform cases 2,901 50% Reform cases 2,928 50% Preliminary Decisions 2,209 Recommended approvals 954 43% Denials 1,255 57% Cases Adjudicated 3,904 Approvals 552 14% Pre-reform cases 125 23% Reform cases 427 77% Denials 517 13% Pre-reform cases 391 76% Reform cases 126 24% Referrals (interviewed cases) 2,835 73% Pre-Reform cases 1,198 42% Reform cases 1,637 58% Cases Completed 10,798 Pre-reform cases 7,542 70% Reform cases 3,258 30% Adjudicated 3,904 36% Pre-reform cases 1,714 44% Reform cases 2,190 56% Referrals (uninterviewed cases) 68 1% Pre-reform cases na Reform cases 68 Administratively Closed 8,828 63% Pre-Reform cases 5,828 85% Reform cases 998 15% Charging Documents Served 5,470 Principals 4,535 83% Dependents 935 17% Pending end of month 393,747 ASYLUM APPLICATIONS FILED October 1997 Office Applications Percent Received Reopened Total 6,004 4,154 1,850 Arlington 658 11% 557 101 Chicago 303 5% 257 46 Houston 233 4% 198 35 Los Angeles 1,467 24% 1,001 466 Miami 764 13% 586 178 Newark 811 14% 348 463 New York 1,182 20% 663 519 San Francisco 586 10% 544 42 LEADING NATIONALIATIES FOR ASYLUM APPLICATIONS FILED WITH INS October 1997 Rank Nationality Applications Filed Percent Total 6,004 1 Mexico 696 12% 2 El Salvador 602 10% 3 Haiti 518 9% 4 Guatemala 509 8% 5 China 481 8% 6 India 263 4% 7 Albania 191 3% 8 Somalia 191 3% 9 Mauritania 173 3% 10 Iran 162 3% Top 10 nationalities 3,786 63% Other nationalities 2,218 37% ASYLUM INTERVIEWS CONDUCTED October 1997 Office Interviews Interviews No Scheduled Conducted % shows % Total 18,901 5,829 31% 6,198 33% Arlington 677 363 54% 116 17% Chicago 534 323 60% 68 13% Houston 722 344 48% 52 7% Los Angeles 5,490 1,831 33% 2,058 37% Miami 2,991 650 22% 807 27% Newark 3,119 807 26% 1,276 41% New York 4,411 1,025 23% 1,634 37% San Francisco 957 486 51% 187 20% Office Rescheduled Rescheduled by Applicant % by INS % Total 3,693 20% 3,181 17% Arlington 129 19% 69 10% Chicago 84 16% 59 11% Houston 286 40% 40 6% Los Angeles 732 13% 869 16% Miami 664 22% 870 29% Newark 789 25% 247 8% New York 938 21% 814 18% San Francisco 71 7% 213 22% ASYLUM APPLICATIONS PENDING October 1997 Office Asylum Cases Local Circuit Pending Office Ride Total 393,747 348,305 45,442 Arlington 45,473 37,939 7,534 Chicago 11,820 3,676 8,144 Houston 20,950 16,769 4,181 Los Angeles 153,189 151,538 1,651 Miami 51,980 51,373 607 Newark 38,858 22,887 15,969 New York 37,035 37,035 San Francisco 34,444 27,088 7,356 ASYLUM CASES COMPLETED October 1997 Office Cases Cases Cases Referred Referred Cases Completed Approved Denied (Interviewed)(Uninterviewed) Closed Total 10,798 552 517 2,835 68 6,826 Arlington 291 45 9 133 1 103 Chicago 367 28 33 141 5 160 Houston 244 28 50 107 12 47 L.A. 3,398 184 248 678 8 2,280 Miami 1,503 37 31 361 6 1,068 Newark 1,893 50 102 489 9 1,243 New York 2,529 78 39 534 16 1,862 San Fran. 573 102 5 392 11 63
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