The Trump administration continues to cause disruption and upheaval in the US’ migrant and refugee sector.

US asylum officers will be able to deny interviews to asylum seekers and send them immediately to an immigration judge, speeding up deportation proceedings, under a new rule imposed by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service.

The rule allows USCIS, a Department of Homeland Security agency, to refer directly to immigration judges certain asylum cases – such as noncitizens who are not yet in deportation proceedings and are proactively seeking asylum — without first conducting an interview or including a referral letter to the judge regarding the applicant’s credibility.

The move is a departure from how USCIS handles asylum cases. It could create weakened asylum claims before immigration judges, resulting in quick denials and orders of removal.

In order to apply for asylum, a noncitizen has to detail to an asylum officer a fear of persecution “on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.”

Supreme Court dashes hopes of asylum seekers

In another move by the US Supreme Court, hundreds of thousands of people who have temporary protection status in the US now fear they may be deported.

The asylum seekers who were anticipating that the Court might let their lawsuit against the Trump administration, aimed at extending their status, move forward.

Instead, the Court threw out their lawsuits almost entirely, ruling that no court is authorised to decide whether the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) followed the letter of the law when terminating TPS.

Despite this decision, the Supreme Court left open the possibility that a decision which violated the Constitution could be heard by a court.

However, the majority opinion declared that the President Trump’s long record of racist statements against Haiti and Haitians was likely not enough to prove that the decision to terminate TPS for Haiti was unlawfully based on race.

That leaves only a thin hope for the remaining lawsuits which have challenged other TPS designations.

Human rights activist detained

A Chinese human rights lawyer who had advocated for personal and religious freedoms in his home country has been arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Pennsylvania.

Shaoping Wu, who was seeking asylum in the United States, was taken into custody after being stopped while working as a contract delivery driver for Amazon.

Wu’s arrest has been slammed by human rights campaigners. His legal work in China focused on defending individuals facing persecution.

ICE shoot more innocents

A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer fatally shot  fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican national who lived in the U.S. for decades, as the homebuilder drove his construction crew to a Houston job site.

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s death set off protests in Texas’ largest city and calls from Democrats and the victim’s family for an independent investigation.

The shooting, in a heavily Hispanic neighbourhood is the eight death during the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said federal officers were looking for some else when they attempted to stop Salgado Araujo’s vehicle.

DHS said Salgado Araujo rammed an ICE vehicle and that an officer opened fire in self-defence, but eyewitnesses have disputed this.

A week later, An ICE agent has shot and killed a 26-year-old Colombian man in Maine.

The man was identified by immigrant rights groups, and advocates said he was authorised to work in the US.

ICE arrested more than 10,000 people in five days at the end of June, demonstrating that US President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown is ramping up.

Iranian dissidents betrayed by US, lawsuit claims

The Trump administration has been accused of sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government.

The allegations, contained in lawsuit brought against the government, says the action amounts to a violation of national immigration regulations and endangered countless Iranians.

The lawsuit alleges a coordinated campaign between the US and Iranian governments to identify Iranians in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and pressure them to return to Iran, despite decades of diplomatic hostility between the two governments and an ongoing war.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied the allegations.