CIBS Faculty Publish an Essay about The Border Patrol Agents Serving as Asylum Officers

Joe Heyman and Jeremy Slack of the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies at UTEP and Daniel E. Martinez of the University of Arizona just published an essay at the Center for Migration Studies (CMS). The essay “Why Border Patrol Agents and CBP Officers Should Not Serve as Asylum Officers” examines the reasons why Border Patrol agents are unsuitable to conduct the first interviews of asylum seekers. From historical pejorative statements toward immigrants to the lack of training, Border Patrol agents are traditionally embedded in the culture of distrustful of immigrants, and thus “unsuited to recognize credible fear determinations fairly.” One of the problems according to authors, is that “If CBP Officers effectively become asylum officers, then enforcement-minded officers will occupy the roles of police, judge, and jury…This suggests that the proposal to make Border Patrol agents asylum officers could lead to imbalanced and adversarial decision-makers, the opposite of what is called for in law.” Read the full essay here: https://cmsny.org/publications/heyman-slack-martinez-062119/