On Thursday, the Trump Administration’s Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice finalized rule changes that are supposedly meant to “streamline” immigration hearings to make legal proceedings occur much more quickly.
In reality, the pro-LGBTQ immigration non-profit, Immigration Equality says, the rule changes make it much harder for LGBTQ or HIV-positive refugees to get asylum in the United States.
One rule change gives all asylum seekers one chance and only one chance to declare their LGBTQ or HIV-positive identity to an asylum hearing judge.
If they don’t, they can never bring it up again or re-file a case stating that they’re seeking asylum to escape queer-phobic abuse or anti-HIV stigma in their home countries. “The