comments of a former asylum officer: March 2018

A former asylum officer published some comments on ILW.com recently:
Officers are busy: they have lots of cases and lots of administrative tasks, such as doing background checks.
"the officer may spend only 20 minutes reviewing your file before calling you in for the interview."
So, do not give extra info that the officer does not care about.
-keep your personal statement to less than 5 pages
     State up front what harm you suffered, and why you suffered it
What harm did you suffer?
was your personal statement translated back to y ou, word-for-word in your native language?
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Asylum officers already know about the conditions of most countries.
What does the Department of State say about your country?
    highlight excerpts you want the officer to focus on
I-589
  did you ever use any other names?  Put this in the application:
page 1, question 7: "What other names have you used?"
The officer will do a background check on the names you give. If you add a new name at the interview, this will slow your case down: the officer must do another check
-make the I-589 perfect! any errors in it will slow the interview down. You want to talk about the harm you suffered, not the address of where you lived 36 months ago.
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officers know the law! they get weekly training. They are urged to consult the Asylum Office Training Manual
-officers have time contraints! they may not read a legal brief
-be concise as possible. a succinct cover letter may suffice, rather than a lengthy brief
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Study your personal statement before the interview. If you are inconsistent, the officer will spend time on that.
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letters of corroboration are not that important. Officers do not have much time to read them; they may contain fraud; they are not so useful.
Did you suffer harm? can you repeat your story, consistently?

"Less is more," Judge Crosland told me, once.

activist from the DRC

The asylum officer asked:
why are you applying for asylum?
why is government angry at you?
what were your activities, that made them angry?
why did the soldiers arrest your brother?
why did you sister do that?
When was she arrested?
when did mother tell you sister had been arrested
when did the phone threats start?
when did the threats stop?
what words did the man say?
after getting beat up in the country side, how did you get to your house?
Why did you believe the office?
where were you at the time of the arrrest?
detained how long?
what happened on the day of your release?
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when did you start planning to come to USA?
when and how did you get  your passport?
no problems getting passport?
how did you get the passport? walk into embassy, or did your father walk in and get it for  you?
tell me about your second arrest: where were you at the time of your arrest, and what happened on the day of your release
what did they say to you, inside the prison?
after your release, where did you go, and how did you get there? walk? take a taxi? using what money?
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what did you do, during the last 30 days in your country?
sit inside, and watch TV? walk outside in the park?
since you departed, has anyone in your country had any problems?
has anyone suffered physical harm? why?
how do you know about this?
Is there anything we have not talked about?
is there anything else?
what would happen if you return to your country?
did you report your beating to the police? why not?
why didn't your employer write a letter of support for you?
what do you do here in USA?