New Sanctuary Coalition

Keeping families together and advocating against deportations

Understanding ACA Pretermission in Asylum Cases

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This document is meant for general information purposes based on common procedural situations and does not constitute legal advice. If you are in need of legal advice, please contact an attorney.

An “asylum cooperative agreement” (or “ACA”) is an arrangement in which a certain country has agreed to accept asylum seekers from the United States. These agreements are being used to “pretermit”, or cancel, respondents’ asylum cases. According to the government’s logic, asylum seekers may be afraid of being sent back to their country of origin, but a deportation to “safe third country” should be allowed.

At your immigration hearing, the lawyer for the US government’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may use an ACA to end your case and deport you to a country different from the one in which you were born. If you are afraid of deportation to one of these other, “safe third countries,” you have options and rights to oppose it.

IN THE COURTROOM, you have the right to:

1. Ask for more time — You can say you want to:

a. File a new asylum application.
b. Find a lawyer to help.

2. Tell the judge that you want the DHS’s argument in writing, and that you want at least 30 days after receiving it to respond.

3. Explain why you are afraid of going to the third country:

a. Will you be persecuted based on being a part of a specific group?
b. Are the people or groups that threaten you in your home country present in this “safe third country”?

4. Say you oppose the government’s motion and that you do not accept “voluntary removal” to this third country.


Example court statement: “Your honor, I would like to receive the government’s motion in writing, and to get at least 30 days to respond after receiving it so that I can find a lawyer and reply.”

There are reasons why the ACA may not apply to you.  If any of these apply to you, let the judge know immediately:

· You arrived in the US before November 18, 2019
· You were, at the time of your entry, an unaccompanied minor (under 18 and without parents/guardians)
· You originally entered the US with a Visa
· You are currently under proceedings for criminal activities or under investigation by Interpol.

If you decline being deported to the “safe third country” at your hearing, you may be given a short deadline to “file a motion” against the deportation or another hearing date that is very soon. Your case may be terminated if you miss this deadline.

AFTER COURT, you have the right to do the following:

  1. Gather evidence as to why you fear harm in this third country. Your reasons should be specific to reasons why you specifically, or people like you, would be 51% likely to face harm there. This information will be helpful when you file documents or at other hearings.
  2. If you are not ordered deported, you can file a motion to oppose the pretermission stating the reasons you fear harm in the proposed third country. Motions must filed with the court by mail or in person, and there is often a deadline of 10 days after the hearing. Find the court’s contact information here (https://acis.eoir.justice.gov/ ). A motion looks like this: ly/aca-oppose
  3. If you have a deportation order, you can appeal the court’s decision with the Board of Immigration Appeals by mail (BIA Clerk’s Office, 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2000, Falls Church, VA 22041) using an EOIR-26 form and an additional letter. The standard deadline for this appeal is 30 days. The appeal form and instructions are here: justice.gov/eoir/eoir-forms; and the addendum letter looks like this: bit.ly/aca-appeal

All documents, motions or appeals, filed must be in English, and a copy must be sent to the DHS Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA) or Office of the Chief Counsel (OCC). This address will be on documents from the DHS, and you can also ask the court for it using their contact information (find here: https://acis.eoir.justice.gov/). You can also try using their electronic filing system at https://eserviceregistration.ice.gov/. Appeals and motions come with filing fees of $1,010, but you can apply to have this fee waived using a form EOIR-26A (found here: www.justice.gov/eoir/eoir-forms).

The strongest motions for asylum, Convention Against Torture (CAT), or withholding of removal protections make the case that a person would be subject to persecution based on being in a “particular social group” (PSG) – like a certain ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation or gender identity, religion, or political affiliation – or that you would be 51% likely to be personally targeted for violence. An important part of the narrative is to demonstrate that the government – in this case the government of the “safe third country” – would be unable or unwilling to prevent this harm.

You can find credible and usable information about threats in various countries (“country conditions”) at these links: Amnesty International: https://bit.ly/amnesty-cc | Human Rights Watch: https://bit.ly/hrw-cc | US State Department: https://bit.ly/statedep-cc (for religion: https://bit.ly/staterel-cc)


PRO SE + ASYLUM ASSISTANCE CLINIC OPTIONS:
Opposing ACA pretermissions isn’t simple, but there are people that can help! If you do not have a lawyer, you can contact the free clinics on the back of this page that can offer help with paperwork. At pro se clinics, trained volunteers (not lawyers) help people who are representing themselves in immigration court. Pro se clinics serve those who need immediate legal help, but cannot afford a lawyer. The below organizations provide this service for free.

Where: 14 East 109th street in East Harlem, New York, NY 10029 (Manhattan)

New Sanctuary Coalition Pro Se Clinic

Saint Peter’s Church Clinic (Father Fabian)

  • Where: Saint Peter’s Church, 619 Lexington Avenue, 54th Street, New York, NY, 10022 .
  • When: Sundays afternoons at 12:30pm (after Mass).
  • Email: [email protected] and Phone number: 646-244-5404 (you can whatsapp this # for more info)

South Brooklyn Sanctuary

Team TLC Pro Se Clinic

 

You can find more information about ACAs and asylum applications at: https://www.ilrc.org/community-resources/asylum-cooperative-agreements-what-you-must-know

More clinics: https://court.kyr.digital/en/legal/
Search for pro bono legal representation: https://www.immigrationadvocates.org/legaldirectory/



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