[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 64 (Friday, April 2, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17437-17438]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-7403]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services

[CIS No. 2261-03]


Notice of Circuit Ride Location Changes for the Chicago and 
Houston Asylum Offices

AGENCY: Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, Department of 
Homeland Security.

ACTION: Notice.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice informs asylum applicants and applicants for 
relief under section 203 of the Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central 
American Relief Act (NACARA 203) of changes in certain asylum and 
NACARA 203 interview locations. Specifically, this notice advises 
certain asylum and NACARA 203 applicants within the jurisdiction of the 
Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS), Chicago, Illinois 
Asylum Office and the Houston, Texas Asylum Office of a change in the 
location where they will be scheduled for an asylum interview.

DATES: This notice is effective May 3, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joanna Ruppel, Deputy Director, Asylum 
Division, Office of Asylum and Refugee Affairs, Bureau of Citizenship 
and Immigration Services, Department of Homeland Security, 425 I 
Street, NW., Attn: ULLICO, Third Floor, Washington, DC 20536; telephone 
(202) 305-2714.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    The CIS has eight Asylum Offices at the following locations: 
Arlington, Virginia; Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, 
California; Miami, Florida; Lyndhurst, New Jersey; San Francisco, 
California; and Rosedale, New York. Asylum Office locations were chosen 
because they are close to where most asylum applicants reside.
    While most asylum interviews within the jurisdiction of six of the 
eight Asylum Offices are conducted at the home Asylum Offices, Asylum 
Officers also routinely travel to CIS District and Sub Offices to 
interview asylum applicants and NACARA 203 applicants who reside 
farther from the local Asylum Offices. Interviews conducted at these 
District and Sub Office locations are known as circuit ride interviews. 
As populations of asylum seekers have changed over time, the number of 
individuals interviewed at circuit ride locations has significantly 
increased for the Houston and Chicago Asylum Offices. In fiscal year 
1995, just over 30 percent of applications received by the Houston 
Asylum Office and just over 50 percent of the applications received by 
the Chicago Asylum Office were from individuals to be interviewed at 
circuit ride locations. Since fiscal year 2000, however, approximately 
57 percent of the applications received by the Houston Asylum Office 
and 64 percent of the applications received by the Chicago Asylum 
Office have been from individuals to be interviewed at circuit ride 
locations. In contrast, between 4 percent and 20 percent of the 
applications filed at the other five Asylum Offices that circuit ride 
to CIS District Offices to conduct interviews were filed by individuals 
who reside within the circuit ride jurisdictions of those offices.
    Section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides that, 
in the absence of exceptional circumstances, the first asylum interview 
or hearing on an asylum application shall commence before 45 days after 
the date an application is filed, and the final administrative 
adjudication of the asylum application, excluding administrative 
appeal, shall be completed within 180 days after the date an 
application is filed. If a final determination is not made on the 
asylum application within 150 days, the applicant becomes eligible to 
apply for employment authorization. If the asylum application is still 
pending after 180 days, CIS must grant the application for employment 
authorization. This statutory provision is based on a key component of 
the success of asylum reform, which was to minimize the number of 
individuals who could obtain employment authorization by submitting an 
application for asylum.
    Applicants at circuit ride locations are more likely to become 
eligible for employment authorization based on the fact that their 
asylum applications often are not adjudicated within 180 days (because 
of the infrequency in which circuit ride interviews can be scheduled). 
Eliminating and consolidating circuit ride locations would enable the 
Chicago and Houston Asylum Offices to adjudicate more asylum 
applications within the 180 day timeframe, thus preventing ineligible 
applicants from obtaining employment authorization based solely on the 
filing of an asylum application and more quickly providing benefits to 
those who qualify for asylum.
    Conducting asylum interviews at circuit ride locations is less 
efficient and more resource intensive than conducting asylum interviews 
at Asylum Offices. While on circuit rides Asylum Officers do not have 
access to many of the decision-making tools normally available when 
interviewing in their home office. Circuit ride interview space is 
limited, which restricts the number of interviews that can be scheduled 
at the circuit ride site. The time Asylum Officers spend traveling to 
circuit ride locations significantly detracts from the overall number 
of asylum interviews the Houston and Chicago Asylum Offices are able to 
complete each year, resulting in delays in asylum determinations for 
many asylum seekers interviewed at circuit ride locations.
    To improve its asylum case processing, the CIS will eliminate two 
Houston Asylum Office circuit ride locations, Harlingen, Texas, and New 
Orleans, Louisiana, requiring certain applicants currently residing 
within those jurisdictions to travel to the Houston Asylum Office for 
their interview. Also, CIS will eliminate two Chicago Asylum Office 
circuit ride locations, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Louisville, Kentucky. 
Asylum applicants currently interviewed in Cincinnati will travel to 
the CIS District Office in Cleveland, Ohio for their interview. 
Applicants currently interviewed in Louisville, Kentucky, will travel 
to the Chicago Asylum Office for their interview.
    Nationally, most existing circuit ride locations will be unchanged 
and Asylum Officers will continue to circuit ride to the majority of 
existing circuit

[[Page 17438]]

ride locations. However, elimination and/or consolidation of the 
circuit ride locations noted below will reduce the number of interview 
locations that require Asylum Officer travel and enable Asylum Officers 
to conduct more interviews each trip at the consolidated circuit ride 
locations. In making the determination to eliminate certain circuit 
ride locations, the CIS has carefully considered the additional burden 
the changes will make to some asylum seekers and NACARA 203 applicants 
who will be required to travel greater distances for their asylum 
interviews. However, the CIS determined that the benefit of more timely 
adjudications for a larger number of asylum seekers outweighs the 
burden certain asylum seekers will experience in traveling a greater 
distance to their interviews. Consequently, the CIS is giving notice of 
the following changes.

Houston Asylum Office

    Effective May 3, 2004, all asylum and NACARA 203 applicants who 
reside within the jurisdiction of the CIS District Office in Harlingen, 
Texas, will have their asylum and/or NACARA 203 interviews conducted at 
the Houston Asylum Office. Also, all asylum and NACARA 203 applicants 
who reside within the jurisdiction of the CIS District Office in New 
Orleans, Louisiana, except residents of Arkansas, Tennessee, and 
Mississippi (who currently interview in Memphis, Tennessee) will have 
their asylum and/or NACARA 203 interviews conducted at the Houston 
Asylum Office. The Houston Asylum Office will no longer circuit ride to 
Harlingen, Texas, or New Orleans, Louisiana. Residents of Arkansas, 
Tennessee and Mississippi who are currently being interviewed in the 
Memphis Sub Office will continue to be interviewed there. All other 
Houston Asylum Office circuit ride sites--Denver, Colorado; El Paso, 
Texas; Memphis, Tennessee; and Salt Lake City, Utah--will continue to 
serve as circuit ride interview locations.

Chicago Asylum Office

    Effective May 3, 2004, the Chicago Asylum Office will no longer 
circuit ride to Cincinnati, Ohio. All asylum and NACARA 203 applicants 
who reside within the state of Ohio zip code areas 43000-43399 (the 
Columbus zip code area), 43400-43699 (the Toledo zip code area), 44800-
44999 (the Mansfield zip code area), 45000-45299 (the Cincinnati zip 
code area), 45300-45599 (the Dayton zip code area), 45600-45699 (the 
Chilicothe zip code area), 45800-45899 (the Lima zip code area), and 
the State of Indiana zip code areas 47000-47099 will have their asylum 
and/or NACARA 203 interviews conducted in the Chicago Asylum Office.
    All asylum and NACARA 203 applicants who reside within the state of 
Ohio zip code areas 43700-43899 (the Zanesville zip code area) and 
45700-45799 (the Athens zip code area) will have their circuit ride 
interviews conducted at the CIS District Office in Cleveland, Ohio, 
instead of at the CIS Sub Office in Cincinnati, Ohio.
    All asylum and NACARA 203 applicants who reside in the state of 
Kentucky zip code areas 40000-40299 (the Louisville zip code area) and 
41000-41099 (the Cincinnati zip code area) will have their interviews 
conducted in the Chicago Asylum Office, instead of at the CIS Sub 
Office in Louisville, Kentucky.
    Each asylum and NACARA 203 applicant affected by these changes in 
interview locations will be notified of the changed interview location 
when he or she is sent an Interview Notice, notifying the applicant of 
the date, time, and place of the interview. Interviews that have 
already been scheduled to take place will not be affected by this 
notice and will be conducted as scheduled.

    Dated: March 29, 2004.
Eduardo Aguirre,
Director, Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.
[FR Doc. 04-7403 Filed 4-01-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-10-P