The author witnessed an asylum interview at the USCIS office in Lyndhurst, NJ that revealed serious flaws in the US asylum system. The asylum officer, Officer H, was clearly unprepared and ignorant about the applicant's case. Officer H did not read the application beforehand, was unaware of where Eritrea is located, asked irrelevant questions, and grew impatient and dismissive when the applicant described his torture in Eritrea. The officer decided the interview was over after only five minutes of testimony and demanded to see the applicant's passport, which is impossible for Eritreans to obtain. The author argues this case exemplifies severe problems with the training and conduct of asylum officers nationwide.

1. Hi,
This is my first Op-Ed contribution. I felt compelled to write after what I
witnessed today at the USCIS Asylum Office in Lyndhurst, NJ. I sincerely
hope you publish this article because the reality of what is going on at this
office must be exposed.
"Is there a word for worse than broken?"
Broken. A mess. Disorganized. These are some of the words used to
describe the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS, formerly
known as INS). We all know that the U.S. immigration system needs
serious revamping. But what most people don't know is how shockingly
bad the reality of the situation truly is.
Every day, USCIS Officers across the country make major and
inexcusable legal and ethical errors that directly affect the lives of
prospective immigrants. Hey, we are only human, and humans make
mistakes. But at some point, a error becomes an attitude and a mistake
becomes a matter of life and death.
This morning, I appeared as counsel on behalf of a 25 year-old Eritrean
man who fled his home country out of fear of persecution by the Eritrean
government on account of his political opinion. My client, Negassi, was
stationed at SAWA, a huge military base in central Eritrea, where he
performed manual labor: building houses for government officials. In
September of 2008, three of his fellow soldiers were severely injured in an
accident. When Negassi inquired about them, he was immediately marked
as an opponent of the government, accused of treason, and sentenced to
life in prison. He was beaten and interrogated daily, denied adequate food
and water, and threatened that his family would be killed. Luckily, Negassi
had a brother in the U.S. who somehow arranged for one of the prison
guards to help him escape. Negassi traveled through fourteen different
countries before applying for political asylum in the U.S.
On July 14, 2011 at 8:00 a.m., Negassi was scheduled for his long-awaited
asylum interview at the USCIS Asylum Office in Lyndhurst, New Jersey.
One-hour and thirty-five minutes later, Officer H. finally appeared, not
having read Negassi's application or detailed personal statement. Officer
H. did, however, note that Negassi's interpreter was from Ethiopia - the
place where the Arc of the Covenant was illegally hoarded.
Officer H. asked Negassi: "Where is Eritrea, anyway?" Apparently, the
Asylum Officers are not given world maps.

2. One-hour later, Officer H. had covered every detail pertaining to Negassi's
inter-continental route to the U.S., disbelieving him when Negassi testified
that he traveled on foot through Sudan for three days. "Oh, C'mon! Well,
what did you do about food and water, huh???" Officer H. couldn't
possibly imagine life without his daily Dunkin' Donuts Coffee Coolata.
Officer H. asked about the make of the pick-up truck that drove him from El
Salvador to Guatemala and the name of the hotel where he slept in Dubai.
All of these details were totally irrelevant for a grant of asylum. When
Negassi told Officer H. that he crossed into Texas from Mexico without
detection, Officer H. was stunned and personally offenses; as if no one has
ever evaded U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in U.S. history.
Then, Officer H. asked Negassi "Why are you applying for asylum?"
Negassi began to quiver and weep. Memories of the torture and sleepless
nights of bleeding, alone, in his bug-infested cell flooded his memory.
Officer H. noticed Negassi's outpour of emotion and firmly stated: "Sir, you
have already wasted my time telling me about your journey, now,
COMPOSE YOURSELF!" Obediently, Negassi held back his tears and
said: "Because I was tortured" to which Officer H. replied "Yeah, ok, ok, ok,
fine!"
After five minutes of Negassi’s description of his experience, Officer H.
couldn't hear anymore about the (hand-gestures included) "beatings."
Officer H. decided the interview was over; he had heard enough.
Sometimes a lawyer must fall on her sword. To Officer H, I was the only
thing standing between him and his meatball sub he planned for lunch. I
forced him to ask more questions about the abuse, revealing that Negassi
was consistently subject to hard labor every day and severe beatings
every night for months on end. I had to draw Officer H's attention to the
numerous exhibits submitted in support of Negassi's claim, including letters
from family members who were previously granted asylum and photos of
Negassi at protests in Washington DC. This was all a joke to him. But to
Negassi, it was a matter of life and death.
At the end of the interview, Officer H. said that Negassi had to return with
his Eritrean passport if he wanted his case to be granted: an impossible
task. My last attempt to explain that since its independence from Ethiopia
in 1993, Eritrean citizens were not given passports, fell on deaf ears; it was
lunchtime.
We left the interview exhausted, frustrated and angered at the lack of
respect and due process given by Officer H. The reality is that there are

3. thousands of Officer H's holding identical interviews across the United
States. Whether it was his lack of training on asylum cases or his personal
vendetta against the alleged possessors of the Arc of the Covenant,
Officer H's behavior was inexcusable. Had Negassi not had an attorney
present at his interview, he would have been bulldozed and humiliated.
This is merely one example of how pathetically broken our immigration
system has become. In fact, now, it is worse than broken - and I cannot
even think of a word to describe it.