Asylum Officer Questions of an activist from the DRC: September 2024

How did you get in contact with your lawyer? What language did you speak to him in?

Have you read each page of your application? [I, the asylum officer, has read them. Your lawyer read them. Do you want to be different from them?]

Let’s see if you can repeat page 1 of Form I-589, without looking at it:

Name? DOB? POB? Do you identify as a male?

What is your ethnic group? religion? What is a “particular social group”?

When did you last depart from your country? your last address there? When did you enter the USA?

  Show me your passport! I want to look at, and identify, each stamp in it?  Does your passport show a more accurate history than you can provide?

What was your last address, outside of the USA?

Tell me all of your addresses, for the past 20 years!

Tell me about each member of your family: mother/father/brother #1/sister #2

   Each one is the same ethnic group as you? Each one is the same religion as you?

How come  you suffered harm, and they did not?

Why isn’t each member of your family dead? You claim that your ethnic group and religion suffers, yes? So, how come each member of your family did not suffer?

What is your complete history with your government: how and when did you apply for passports and exit permits?

  Tell me your complete immigration history with the USA government: you applied for a tourist visa? Form DS-160? That form asked if you had ever been arrested? That form asked how long you would stay in the USA and when you would return? You lied? If you lied on Form DS-160, then you probably lied on Form I-589, yes?

Your tourist visa was issued in April; you bought a round-trip airline ticket to JFK airport, and then back to your country? 

Upon arrival at JFK airport, you told lies? NO? Upon arrival, your plan indeed was to return to your country in two weeks? But, three days after arrival, you got some new information and some new advice from your uncle? You talked to your mother on the phone?

    As a result of this new information, you changed your mind, and decided only then to apply for asylum?

Did you suffer physical harm in your country? When was the first time? You say a man hit you? What was he wearing? Was it a police uniform? Why did you believe it was a policeman? Did other people believe it was a policeman?

What weapons did he have? where on your body, did he hit you?

What language did he speak? What words did he say?  Did he know what your ethnic group was? How could he know it?

Did he know what your religion was? how could he know it?

Did he know what your political opinion was?

Where were you at the moment of your arrest?

What thoughts went through your mind, at that time?

Why did the soldiers attack that village, and not another one?

Why did the soldiers want to harm you? What words did they say?

WHAT WAS THE MOTIVE OF THE BAD GUYS? WHAT DID THE BAD GUYS KNOW ABOUT YOU?

They held you for about four days? What happened on the day of your release? why were you released on day #4 and not on day #3?

Did  you, or do you, have any long-lasting effects from your mistreatment?

Any scars? any photos of scars?

Any mental scars? flashbacks? nightmares?

Why did the soldier hit you? [why does the asylum officer ask obvious questions? We don’t know, but, anyway, answer him! The soldier wanted to punish you for your political opinion?

During your next detention, did you suffer physical harm? Any scars today? Was there pain that lasted as long as one week? 

Why didn’t you see a doctor?

Why didn’t you report the assault to the police?Is it futile and a waste of time to complain to the police? Is it dangerous to complain to the police, because they might get angry?

Where were you at the moment of your arrest?

Why were you arrested? Who arrested you? What weapons did he have? What words did he say? What language did he speak?

What was his motive?

You say he hit you? where was the first part of the body that got hit? What was the second part?

Were there any immediate injuries? blood? 

  Injuries that appeared during the next few hours? bruises? discoloration?

  Injuries that you felt one week later?

  Any injuries today, from 20 years ago?

How would anyone know what your ethnic group was? 

How would anyone know what your religion was?

How would anyone know what your political opinion was?

How were you treated differently from others?

How long did your physical injuries last?

How long did your psychological harm last?

How much longer in the future will it last?

Why did n’t you go and see a counselor? You say: “I didn’t want to see a counselor, because I know she would ask me about what happened, and I don’t want to talk about it.”  What do you mean by that? Going to a counselor is too expensive and too painful and you fear it would not do any good?

Tell me your immigration status in each country where you lived?

Was permanent residency available there?

Were the conditions of your residency substantially and consciously restricted by the government of that country?

What reputation did the soldiers have? What did other people tell you about the soldiers?

Were you treated differently from others?

Was your village treated differently from others? why?

Do you have any long-lasting injuries?

Can you return to your country today? why not?

The government has forgotten about you, haven’t they?

Did you do anything in the USA to bring yourself to the attention of your government back home?

Why did you decide to depart from your country?

Why not flee immediately? Did you need to gather money and make plans before making such a big decision?

Did the bad guys have more than one motive?

What is your “particular social group”?

Do  you fear the government? vigilantes? part-time thugs, who work for the government? Private citizens who are close to, or work for, the government?

Why would your government harm you in the future?

What is your political opinion?

Is there anything else? Yes? what?

Did you ever give “material support,” even under duress?