Procedures for Minor Principal Applicant Claims for Asylum
Definition of Minor Principal and Unaccompanied Minor
A minor principal applicant is an applicant for asylum who is under 18 years of age (a juvenile) at the time of filing for asylum and who is applying in his or her own right, as opposed to as a derivative family member on a parent’s or spouse’s asylum application.
An unaccompanied minor is a principal applicant for asylum who is under 18 years of age (a juvenile) and who has no parent or legal guardian in the U.S. who is available to provide care and physical custody. See Homeland Security Act, 6 U.S.C. § 279. This definition encompasses separated minors, e.g., those who are separated from their parents or guardians, but who are in the informal care and physical custody of other adults, including family members. Note that a child who entered the U.S. with a parent or other adult guardian but who subsequently left the parent’s or guardian’s care would be considered an unaccompanied minor. For purposes of the unaccompanied minor definition, guardianship refers to a formal (legal/judicial) arrangement. If the parent is deceased and there is no legal guardianship arrangement, the child would be considered unaccompanied.
Interviewing Procedures for Minor Principal Applicants
The Asylum Division employs child-sensitive interviewing techniques when adjudicating asylum claims filed by minor principal applicants (potentially unaccompanied minors). These claims involve special considerations, and the Asylum Officer tailors the interview to the child’s age, stage of language development, background, and level of sophistication. Such child-sensitive interview techniques are required by the Guidelines for Children’s Asylum Claims. For a more detailed discussion of child-sensitive interviewing and legal eligibility, see Guidelines for Children’s Asylum Claims (Dec. 10, 1998).
In cases involving a minor as a principal applicant, Asylum Officers also elicit information about issues of guardianship and parental knowledge of and consent to the application for asylum. The questions of guardianship may be particularly important for unaccompanied minors because whether or not there is a legal guardian informs the Asylum Officer’s decision of whether to categorize the applicant as an unaccompanied minor. Additionally, the information elicited by the Asylum Officer is useful to the Asylum Headquarters in informing future policy making and in helping provide guidance on individual cases, as necessary. In some cases, it may be appropriate to delay adjudication of the case after interview so that the minor applicant can provide further information or documentation about the guardianship arrangement and/or parental knowledge and consent of the application, where such information could be reasonably available and there are unresolved questions that the documentation could help resolve. A minor applicant’s inability to demonstrate a guardianship arrangement or parental knowledge and consent does not foreclose the adjudication of the application or a grant of asylum.
As appropriate and with the consent of the child, Asylum Officers may interview the parent or trusted adult, if any, in order to confirm any guardianship arrangement and gather information about parental knowledge of and consent to the application. The parent or trusted adult may also be able to provide information on the child’s claim where the child’s age at the time of the harm or the interview prevents him or her from fully detailing events. It is not a requirement, however, that a witness or trusted adult be present at the interview.
Related Files
