The Trump administration published myriad regulations seeking to restrict access to asylum and related protections. The worst of these regulations were enjoined through litigation, including Pangea Legal Servs.I v. U.S. Dep't of Homeland Sec., 501 F. Supp. 3d 792, 827 (N.D. Cal. 2020), a case on which NIPNLG is co-counsel. While most of these lawsuits are being held in abeyance pending future rulemaking by the Biden administration, government websites continue to post the published rules-even for regulations that never took effect. The government posts regulations on its official website, once they are published as final rules on an annual basis, and it does not remove regulations based on injunctions. The posting of regulations that are not in effect has caused significant confusion for practitioners who consult the regulations when conducting research or writing briefs.
The Department of Justice attorneys recently included a chart one of its attorneys created that includes links to frequently used Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR) asylum regulations that are currently in effect with a Joint Status Report filed in Centro de la Raza v. EOIR. In May 2023, the chart was updated to include analogous 208 series Department of Homeland Security regulations. The latest version of the chart with the EOIR regulations can be found HERE and the new chart containing DHS regulations can be found HERE. Practitioners should still do their own research to ensure that the version of the regulation they are referencing is current, but the chart is a helpful starting place.