BIA Ruling Alters Handling of Asylum Cases

Asylum Cooperative Agreements

On October 31, 2025, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) issued Matter of C-I-G-M- & L-V-S-G-, a ruling that fundamentally changes how asylum cases are handled. The decision directs Immigration Judges to first determine whether the Safe Third Country bar applies under an Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA) before considering the substance of an asylum claim. This procedural requirement will allow the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to terminate cases without hearing testimony on persecution if the bar is triggered.

The Safe Third Country provision authorizes denial of asylum when an applicant can be transferred to a partner country under an agreement that guarantees safety and a fair asylum process. These agreements, known as ACAs, were initially introduced in 2019, paused in 2021, and reinstated in 2025 through new legislation. Countries such as Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador are designated as partners, even though they lack adequate asylum protections to qualify as Safe Third Countries. Once DHS invokes the bar, the applicant must demonstrate that it is more likely than not that they will face persecution or torture in the designated country. This standard is higher than what the applicant must prove to establish persecution in a regular asylum case.

Additionally, even if the countries designated were safe and could offer asylum protections, the agreements themselves are not actually viable for large numbers of migrants. For instance, the ACA agreement with Honduras currently sets a cap of 10 migrants per month. Considering that there were approximately 2.4 million defensive asylum applications pending before immigration courts in FY2025, these agreements are not actually viable and simply being invoked to deny immigrants from benefits and dismiss asylum claims without adequate due process.

In its decision, the BIA clarified that physical transit through the partner country is unnecessary; the bar applies if DHS has legal authority to transfer the applicant there. Immigration Judges must resolve this issue before any individual hearing, and applicants bear the burden of proof to overcome the bar. This ruling broadens ACA applicability to individuals who never entered a partner country. As a result, procedural hurdles have become central to the asylum process, requiring applicants to provide significantly more evidence than originally necessary for an Immigration Judge to even hear the merits of their claim to asylum in the United States.

Immigration attorneys nationwide are reporting that DHS is asserting ACAs against asylum-seekers in both the initial and final phases of their asylum case. If you or a loved one has a pending asylum case or are considering applying for asylum, it’s important to consult with an immigration attorney to determine if DHS can apply an ACA to your case and, if so, how best to counter their arguments.