Exploring Alternatives to Asylum: Insights from Immigration Lawyer Juan Antonio Lozada

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Juan Antonio Lozada, lawyer, immigration law advisor and defender of the human rights of migrants, exposed in a Twitter Space of El Pitazo that many people get carried away by the idea that asylum is their only alternative to living in the US. USA, without first evaluating other options that can end positively

Today there are thousands of Venezuelans who transit through the darien jungle to then pass through Central America until reaching the border of Mexico with the United States. Once there, they risk crossing irregularly for the purpose of apply for asylum in the North American country, an option that, for many, is the only one to set foot on American soil.

Faced with the migratory flow, the United States has restricted the right to asylum and has implemented new measures so that people of different nationalities, including Venezuelans, find a regular way to emigrate to the country. In addition, it is possible that people can apply for other types of visas or programs to immigrate to the North American country without the need to request asylum. This is explained by the lawyer and advisor in immigration law, Juan Antonio Lozada (@thelawofficeofjal), a the whistle.

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Lozada, also a defender of the human rights of migrants, explains that there are two ways to request asylum. The first is from a affirmative waywhich refers to those who entered the country through regular routes, with a visa, and that before completing the status they apply for asylum. “This implies that the interview will be done in front of an asylum officer.”

On the other hand, there is the request for defensive wayin which the process will no longer be carried out in front of an asylum officer, but before an immigration judge in a Court. «There are two ways to achieve this: the first is that your affirmative application is denied and you can appeal (…) If you enter through the border, the process is different. You go directly to a court with an adversarial process, with a prosecutor, a defense attorney and you must corroborate your case.

Asylum was not designed solely to protect people fleeing their country because of a political opinion

Juan Antonio Lozada, lawyer, advisor on immigration law and defender of the human rights of migrants

–In addition to being physically in the United States, what requirements must a person meet to apply for asylum?

–The asylum was not designed only for protect people fleeing their country for a political opinion. In addition to that protected figure, we have four more: religion, race, national origin, persecution.

Currently, many people operate under the impression that it is easy to obtain asylum in the United States and Nothing can be further from the truth. The truth is that it’s quite complicated get asylum, that means that a large majority of people who come trying to prove it are not successful, because generally They are not well advised.

Many times they come thinking that if you explain to the authority that you had to leave, because you did not have a job that allowed you to support your family or that there were many security problems and that they steal from you all the time, that will be enough to be a protected class. That is not the case, unless you can establish a link between the protected classes and the persecution. In addition, you will have to prove that it was the government or groups that the government cannot control.

– What is the most recommendable thing for people who plan to start an asylum process?

–The first thing is that, before making such a dangerous journey, it is to invest in an appointment with an immigration attorney that specializes in asylum to assess whether or not the person has an asylum case. If that person does not have it and still decides to come to the United States, at least it will be clear that all he is doing is buying himself a little time in the country.

Before you leave the country and invest thousands of dollars to get to Mexico to cross the border, you can invest 100 or 150 dollars in a professional that you can listen to them and ask the pertinent questions to find out if you have a viable case. And if he does not have it, the professional can help the person to explore other options As the humanitarian wordsthat even though you do not have permanent status, you can come to the United States for two years and have a work permit almost immediately.

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With an asylum process, you must wait 150 days before applying for a work permit. We are talking about these asylum seekers going to spend at least one year without a work permit, that is, a year where you are taking any job that is offered to you, under the table and not always earning very well. These are considerations to take into account.

If the person already knows that does not qualify for asylum, you already know that you can explore other options. The big problem is thinking that asylum solves everything and the truth is that there are many options that may be suitable for other people. There are options that many people are not exploring, because there is a focus on asylum.

I’ve seen graduate civil engineers decide to cross the border when they could probably apply to a national interest visa and have received residency, without even having an employer or job offer. There are options that many people are not exploring.

It’s no secret that many countries around the world are having trouble finding highly skilled workforce andn areas like engineering, natural sciences, pure sciences, computers, great entrepreneurs, nurses, physical therapists… Those are just some of the professions in which the United States is not always successful in attracting sufficient numbers. We have seen many people with these professions succeed in immigrating to the United States, as long as they are willing to go through the certification process.

With an asylum process, you must wait 150 days before applying for a work permit. We are talking about these asylum seekers going to spend at least a year without a work permit.

Juan Antonio Lozada, lawyer, advisor on immigration law and defender of the human rights of migrants

–What kind of evidence can a person use to show that they are a victim of persecution?

–First, we must understand that the term persecution is quite broad. Discrimination is not synonymous with persecutionIn addition, harassment is not synonymous with persecution.

Persecution, generally, constitutes more extreme attitudes than harassment or discrimination. This does not mean that the latter are not relevant in the analysis.

If a person is constantly threatened and harassed for his political position and is also fired from work for his political opinion, is prevented from accessing other jobs, is cut off from access to subsidized food or public health, and all of this is happening at same time, then we are no longer talking about discrimination. We are already talking about so many areas of your life that then it becomes a chase.

You are going to submit an I-589, which is the form used to apply for asylum in the United States. In it you will add some documents to corroborate what you are saying, that you deserve protection. Examples of things to include, a sworn declaration explaining what happened, answering narrative questions about the persecution that the form asks for, a story written with the help of a lawyer, affidavits from witnesses, newspaper articles about the event, reports from civil society organizationsAll of that is evidence.

–Is the CBP One application another way to apply for asylum, or is it used to access another immigration status?

-The CBP One app it is being used in different ways. It is being used for the biometric part of the parole humanitarian, to make appointments to appear at one of the seven ports of entry authorized by the border guard. It is an application that works for a lot of things, not just for asylum.

The Biden administration (following the end of Title 42) creates a process where migrants with a CBP One appointment begin to be treated better than foreigners who simply pass through the border without having attempted to make an appointment through the app.

If you do not come prepared for that interview, your path will end there.

Juan Antonio Lozada, lawyer, advisor on immigration law and defender of the human rights of migrants

If you enter without a CBP One appointment and crosses the border, your chances of filing for asylum are much lower, because a higher standard is being applied to you. They will be demanding a lot more from you before they allow you to apply for asylum.

This has had a great impact, because many people are afraid that if they enter through the border and this highest standard of proofthey will be deported expeditiously in a matter of weeks and in the end they will no longer qualify for asylum, because if they try to cross again, after deportation, they do not qualify.

–What is the difference between a person applying for asylum and one applying for refugee status?

–Most countries in Europe and North America have a quota that they reserve for UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and IOM (International Organization for Migration). These two agencies work to manage those quotas and decide who receives the annual quotas granted by each country.

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They – UNHCR and IOM – carry out a selection process where they determine who deserves protection for being a member of one of the five protected classes. So instead of coming to the United States to prove that you deserve asylum, that determination is made by one of these agencies and if they determine that you deserve protection, you can enter the country.

–What would you recommend to a person who is determined to request asylum?

–Yo I would not wait until I was in the United States to make my case of asylum. If I truly believe I have a case, I would start organizing it. That would be the first thing, because if you enter through the border, you could be among those who require you to pass a credible fear interview. If you do not come prepared for that interview, your journey will end there.

The second thing is to understand that when you are speaking to a North American audience, you are not speaking to Venezuelan or Colombian gold that understands your context. You have to learn to write or speak about what you want to expose in a way that the audience receives and understands.

If you are Venezuelan and you talk to another Venezuelan about the Tupamaros, the energy crisis or the clap bags, he will understand you and he will know exactly what you are talking about. But if you’re going to talk about those things, and you don’t take the time to explain what each one means to an audience unfamiliar with the concepts, then you’re going to have a problem. You have to Tailor your message to your audience.

And the third piece of advice that I would give is that the United States is a country that, at this moment, is experiencing political polarization and one of the wars in that polarization is the immigration issue. Every time it is being more restrictiveso you have to be strategic about how you carry the emigration process.

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