It is very important for immigrants living in Louisiana to show up for court dates. Immigrants who are seeking and who have already received asylum are usually very responsible and make every effort to be at the correct place on the correct date. But many people who have already been granted asylum under U.S. immigration law are dealing with the same problem — they are showing up for court dates that never existed in the first place.
In Nov. 2019, a 25-year-old man was granted asylum and traveled to a port of entry four days later. When he showed up with his asylum document, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official pulled him aside. Instead of allowing him entry, that official gave him a court date for some time in Jan. 2020 and told him to remain in Mexico until that time.
He later learned that it was a fake court date. Despite there being no court date, he was told he would still have to stay in Mexico. He and several other people were told that they would have to stay where they are during the 30-day period because Homeland Security has to appeal immigration judges’ decisions to grant asylum.
According to one expert on U.S. immigration law, this is becoming a bigger and bigger problem. When people with asylum do not have any court dates for the future, CBP officials frequently create fake ones and turn those individuals away. These tactics can make it very hard for some people to figure out what they should and should not be doing during this process, but an experienced attorney in Louisiana may be able to provide some guidance on these kinds of issues.