This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains notices to the public of the proposed

issuance of rules and regulations. The

purpose of these notices is to give interested

persons an opportunity to participate in the

rule making prior to the adoption of the final

rules.

Proposed Rules Federal Register

67099 

Vol. 76, No. 210 

Monday, October 31, 2011 

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE 

Executive Office for Immigration 

Review 

8 CFR Parts 1208 and 1240 

[EOIR Docket No. 173; AG Order No. 3307– 

2011] 

RIN 1125–AA65 

Forwarding of Asylum Applications to 

the Department of State 

AGENCY: Executive Office for 

Immigration Review, Department of 

Justice. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Department of Justice is 

planning to amend its regulations to 

alter the process by which the Executive 

Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) 

forwards asylum applications for 

consideration by the Department of 

State (DOS). Currently, EOIR forwards 

to DOS all asylum applications that are 

submitted initially in removal 

proceedings before an immigration 

judge. The proposed rule would amend 

the regulations to provide for sending 

asylum applications to DOS on a 

discretionary basis. For example, EOIR 

could forward an application in order to 

ascertain whether DOS has information 

relevant to the applicant’s eligibility for 

asylum. This change would increase the 

efficiency of DOS’s review of asylum 

applications and is consistent with 

similar changes already made by U.S. 

Citizenship and Immigration Services 

(USCIS), Department of Homeland 

Security (DHS). 

DATES: Written comments must be 

postmarked and electronic comments 

must be submitted on or before 

December 30, 2011. Comments received 

by mail will be considered timely if they 

are postmarked on or before that date. 

The electronic Federal Docket 

Management System will accept 

comments until Midnight Eastern Time 

at the end of that day. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by EOIR Docket No. 173, by 

one of the following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Robin M. Stutman, General 

Counsel, Executive Office for 

Immigration Review, 5107 Leesburg 

Pike, Suite 2600, Falls Church, VA 

22041. To ensure proper handling, 

please reference EOIR Docket No. 173 

on your correspondence. This mailing 

address may also be used for paper, 

disk, or CD–ROM submissions. 

• Hand Delivery/Courier: Robin M. 

Stutman, General Counsel, Executive 

Office for Immigration Review, 5107 

Leesburg Pike, Suite 2600, Falls Church, 

VA 22041. Contact Telephone Number 

(703) 305–0470. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Robin M. Stutman, General Counsel, 

Executive Office for Immigration 

Review, 5107 Leesburg Pike, Suite 2600, 

Falls Church, VA 22041, telephone 

(703) 305–0470. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Public Participation 

Interested persons are invited to 

participate in this rulemaking by 

submitting written data, views, or 

arguments on all aspects of this rule. 

EOIR also invites comments that relate 

to the economic, environmental, or 

federalism effects that might result from 

this rule. Comments that will provide 

the most assistance to EOIR in 

developing these procedures will 

reference a specific portion of the rule, 

explain the reason for any 

recommended change, and include data, 

information, or authority that support 

such recommended change. 

All submissions received should 

include the agency name and EOIR 

Docket No. 173 for this rulemaking. 

Please note that all comments received 

are considered part of the public record 

and made available for public 

inspection at http://www.regulations.

gov. Such information includes personal 

identifying information (such as your 

name, address, etc.) voluntarily 

submitted by the commenter. 

If you want to submit personal 

identifying information (such as your 

name, address, etc.) as part of your 

comment, but do not want it to be 

posted online, you must include the 

phrase ‘‘PERSONAL IDENTIFYING 

INFORMATION’’ in the first paragraph 

of your comment and identify what 

information you want redacted. 

If you want to submit confidential 

business information as part of your 

comment, but do not want it to be 

posted online, you must include the 

phrase ‘‘CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS 

INFORMATION’’ in the first paragraph 

of your comment. You also must 

prominently identify confidential 

business information to be redacted 

within the comment. If a comment has 

so much confidential business 

information that it cannot be effectively 

redacted, all or part of that comment 

may not be posted on http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

Personal identifying information and 

confidential business information 

identified and located as set forth above 

will be placed in the agency’s public 

docket file, but not posted online. To 

inspect the agency’s public docket file 

in person, you must make an 

appointment with agency counsel. 

Please see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT paragraph above for agency 

counsel’s contact information. 

II. Background 

The EOIR regulations pertaining to 

asylum applications, at 8 CFR 

1208.11(a), currently state: ‘‘The Service 

shall forward to the Department of State 

a copy of each completed application it 

receives. At its option, the Department 

of State may provide detailed country 

conditions information relevant to 

eligibility for asylum or withholding of 

removal.’’ The EOIR regulations for 

removal proceedings, at 8 CFR 

1240.11(c)(2), currently state: ‘‘Upon 

receipt of an application that has not 

been referred by an asylum officer, the 

Immigration Court shall forward a copy 

to the Department of State pursuant to 

§ 1208.11 of this chapter.’’ That 

statement is repeated in 8 CFR 

1240.33(b) and 1240.49(c)(3) (providing 

the same procedure for exclusion and 

deportation proceedings, respectively, 

that were initiated before April 1, 1997). 

In addition, the regulations at 8 CFR 

1208.11(c) provide that ‘‘immigration 

judges may request specific comments 

from the Department of State regarding 

individual cases or types of claims 

under consideration, or such other 

information as they deem appropriate.’’ 


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67100 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 210 / Monday, October 31, 2011 / Proposed Rules 

1We note that the regulations at 8 CFR 

1208.1(a)(1) provide, in part, that subpart A of part 

1208 ‘‘shall apply to all applications for asylum 

under section 208 of the Immigration and 

Nationality Act (Act) or for withholding of 

deportation or withholding of removal under 

section 241(b)(3) of the Act, or under the 

Convention Against Torture.’’ Thus, the terms 

‘‘asylum application’’ or ‘‘application for asylum,’’ 

as used in the current regulations and in this 

proposed rule, refer to an application for: (1) 

Asylum under section 208 of the Act; (2) 

withholding of removal under section 241(b)(3) of 

the Act; (3) withholding or deferral of removal 

under the Convention Against Torture as provided 

in 8 CFR 1208.16 and 1208.17; and (4) withholding 

of deportation under former section 243(h) of the 

Act. 

2These fiscal year receipt numbers for 

defensively filed asylum cases are based on the date 

that the Form I–589, Application for Asylum and 

for Withholding of Removal, is filed with the EOIR 

Immigration Courts. These numbers differ from the 

data contained in the Statistical Year Books 

prepared by EOIR, which is tied to the date the 

removal case was filed at EOIR. 

3As noted later in this preamble, USCIS has 

already made similar changes to its corresponding 

regulations at 8 CFR 208.11. See 74 FR 15367 (Apr. 

6, 2009). USCIS’s revised regulations took effect on 

April 6, 2009. Since that date, USCIS has no longer 

been forwarding to DOS a copy of each affirmative 

asylum application it receives. 

4 DRL continues to fill this role with respect to 

requests from USCIS as well. As noted earlier in the 

preamble, USCIS has already made similar changes 

to its corresponding regulations at 8 CFR 208.11. 

See 74 FR 15367 (Apr. 6, 2009). Prior to these 

changes, USCIS requests for information on 

particular cases were authorized by 8 CFR 

208.11(c). Currently, such requests are provided for 

in 8 CFR 208.11(a). 

EOIR receives and adjudicates asylum 

applications 1 where aliens in 

immigration proceedings submit the 

asylum application directly to the 

immigration judge (known as defensive 

asylum applications). EOIR also receives 

and adjudicates asylum applications 

that are referred for consideration in 

proceedings before an immigration 

judge after being initially adjudicated 

through DHS USCIS’s affirmative 

asylum process (known as affirmative 

asylum applications). 

Currently, the Immigration Court is 

required to send a copy of each 

defensively filed asylum application to 

DOS for review. In fiscal years 2008 

(15,367), 2009 (14,509), and 2010 

(14,210), EOIR received, on average 

14,695 defensively filed asylum 

applications and forwarded a copy of 

each application to DOS.2 Similarly, 

USCIS received 25,680 affirmative 

asylum applications in fiscal year 2007, 

25,497 in fiscal year 2008, and 11,322 

from October 1, 2008, until March 31, 

2009. USCIS forwarded a copy of each 

of these affirmative applications to 

DOS.3

III. Reasons for Change 

DOS has indicated that it does not 

have the resources to review many of 

the asylum applications forwarded to it. 

DOS has determined that the current 

process of forwarding every asylum 

application to DOS is not an efficient 

method because it does not provide a 

means for the agencies to identify 

particular cases for which DOS review 

might be expected to yield the most 

value. 

To address this problem, DOS has 

requested EOIR to alter the process by 

which EOIR forwards asylum 

applications to DOS. This proposed rule 

would change the process to permit the 

immigration judge, in his or her 

discretion, to send asylum applications 

for consideration by DOS. For instance, 

an immigration judge could forward 

those applications where DOS could 

potentially have information relevant to 

the applicant’s eligibility for asylum, 

withholding of removal under 241(b)(3) 

of the Immigration and Nationality Act 

(Act), or withholding of removal under 

the Convention Against Torture. DOS 

may have information helpful to the 

adjudication of the application, 

including information that confirms 

publicly available information or 

information that is not otherwise 

available. 

EOIR notes that USCIS has already 

made similar changes to its 

corresponding regulations at 8 CFR 

208.11, with respect to affirmative 

asylum applications filed with USCIS. 

See 74 FR 15367 (Apr. 6, 2009). 

As noted earlier, the EOIR regulations 

at 8 CFR 1208.11(c) already provide that 

the immigration judges may forward to 

DOS for review and comment select 

applications as the judges deem 

appropriate. This process, which has 

been in place for years, has been a 

productive means by which 

immigration judges obtain country 

conditions information on specific 

cases. EOIR and DOS intend to maintain 

this process, as provided in the 

amended regulations at 8 CFR 

1208.11(a). 

DOS’s Bureau of Democracy, Human 

Rights and Labor (DRL), the Bureau to 

which the asylum applications are 

forwarded, brings its country conditions 

expertise to asylum matters in a variety 

of ways, which as a whole are referred 

to as DRL’s asylum function. Consistent 

with the regulations currently at 8 CFR 

1208.11(c), and with USCIS’s 

corresponding regulations at 8 CFR 

208.11, DRL may, at its discretion, 

respond to requests for comments on 

cases specifically brought to its 

attention by EOIR immigration judges 

and USCIS’s Asylum Division. Under 

the amended regulations at 8 CFR 

1208.11(a), DRL will continue to fill this 

role with respect to requests from 

immigration judges.4 DRL also produces 

updated issue papers or ‘‘country 

profiles’’ for use in asylum 

adjudications, and it responds to certain 

DHS Immigration and Customs 

Enforcement requests for document 

verification in asylum cases before 

EOIR. Additionally, DRL produces 

annual Country Reports on Human 

Rights Practices and annual 

International Religious Freedom 

Reports, which provide country 

conditions information useful to the 

adjudication of asylum applications. 

The amendments to the regulations 

being made in this proposed rule will 

not alter these functions. 

IV. Description of the Proposed Rule 

This proposed rule amends the 

regulations at 8 CFR 1208.11, 1240.11, 

1240.33, and 1240.49 as follows. This 

rule revises the sentence in each of 

those sections requiring the Immigration 

Court to forward each asylum 

application to DOS. Under this 

proposed rule, the Immigration Court 

may forward asylum applications to 

DOS, but is not required to do so. This 

change will permit EOIR to exercise 

discretion to forward those applications. 

For instance, EOIR might wish to 

ascertain whether DOS has information 

relevant to the adjudication of a 

particular case or types of claims. 

By consolidating certain paragraphs, 

the proposed rule also removes 

redundant references to the types of 

information that DOS may provide to 

EOIR. 

This proposed change in the 

regulations will not require additional 

resources, either in the training or hiring 

of personnel at EOIR or DOS or in the 

expenditure of material or financial 

resources. In fact, altering the 

regulations will permit both EOIR and 

DOS to conserve resources. EOIR will 

no longer be required to expend 

resources on mailing to DOS every 

properly filed defensive asylum 

application it receives. Although EOIR 

will discontinue mailing to DOS every 

properly filed defensive asylum 

application EOIR receives, EOIR will 

maintain the practice of permitting an 

immigration judge to request, in his or 

her discretion, specific comments from 

DOS regarding individual cases or types 

of claims under consideration, or other 

such information as he or she deems 

appropriate. As noted earlier, this 

practice is currently provided by the 

regulations at 8 CFR 1208.11(c). It will 

be covered by the amended regulations 

at 8 CFR 1208.11(a). By focusing on 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 210 / Monday, October 31, 2011 / Proposed Rules 67101 

select cases forwarded by EOIR, DRL’s 

officers will be able to best utilize their 

time and resources toward 

accomplishing their asylum 

responsibilities. A change in the 

regulations will also result in resource 

savings for asylum applicants, as 

applicants will no longer be required to 

make an extra copy of their application 

for EOIR to forward to DOS, as currently 

required by the instructions to the Form 

I–589 asylum application. 

The types of comments that DOS may 

provide will not change. At its option, 

DOS may provide detailed country 

conditions information relevant to the 

applicant’s eligibility for asylum and for 

withholding of removal. DOS may also 

provide an assessment of the accuracy 

of the applicant’s assertions about 

conditions in the applicant’s country of 

nationality or habitual residence and the 

applicant’s particular situation, 

information about whether persons who 

are similarly situated to the applicant 

are persecuted or tortured in their 

respective country of nationality or 

habitual residence and the frequency of 

such persecution or torture, or such 

other information as DOS deems 

relevant. 

Additionally, this proposed rule 

makes additional amendments in order 

to be consistent with changes that have 

occurred with the implementation of the 

Homeland Security Act of 2002. The 

Homeland Security Act authorized the 

creation of DHS and transferred the 

functions of the former Immigration and 

Naturalization Service (INS) to DHS, 

while retaining EOIR under the 

authority of the Attorney General. In 

order to accommodate these changes, 

title 8 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations was reorganized into 

separate chapters, chapter I for DHS and 

chapter V for the Department of Justice. 

See 68 FR 9824, 9834 (Feb. 28, 2003). 

The provisions of part 208, on 

procedures for asylum and withholding 

of removal, were duplicated into a new 

part 1208. As a result, part 208 governs 

asylum adjudications before DHS’s 

USCIS and part 1208 governs asylum 

adjudications before EOIR. As this 

proposed rule only addresses 

submissions of asylum applications 

from EOIR to DOS, it is limited to 

amending 8 CFR 1208.11, 1240.11, 

1240.33, and 1240.49. To be consistent 

with changes that have occurred with 

implementation of the Homeland 

Security Act, it removes references in 

EOIR’s regulations to ‘‘The Service’’ and 

USCIS ‘‘asylum officers’’ forwarding 

asylum applications to DOS, as those 

matters are now governed by the DHS 

regulations at 8 CFR 208.11. 

Finally, this proposed rule also 

amends part 1240 to cite to the correct 

regulatory provision regarding filing of 

an asylum application as provided in 8 

CFR 1208.4(b). The regulations at 8 CFR 

1240.11(c)(2) and 8 CFR 1240.33(b) 

currently cite incorrectly to 8 CFR 

1208.4(c) and will be corrected to cite to 

8 CFR 1208.4(b). This change is 

consistent with 8 CFR 1240.49(c)(3). 

These amendments are technical 

corrections and do not make any 

substantive changes to part 1240. 

V. Regulatory Requirements 

A. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Department has reviewed this 

regulation in accordance with the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 

605(b)) and has determined that this 

rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities for the 

following reason: This rule affects only 

the process by which EOIR forwards 

and DOS receives asylum applications. 

The rule will not regulate ‘‘small 

entities’’ as that term is defined in 5 

U.S.C. 601(6). 

B. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 

1995 

This rule will not result in the 

expenditure by state, local and tribal 

governments, in the aggregate, or by the 

private sector, of $100 million or more 

in any one year, and it will not 

significantly or uniquely affect small 

governments. Therefore, no actions were 

deemed necessary under the provisions 

of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

of 1995. 

C. Small Business Regulatory 

Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 

This rule is not a major rule as 

defined by section 251 of the Small 

Business Regulatory Enforcement 

Fairness Act of 1996. 5 U.S.C. 804. This 

rule will not result in an annual effect 

on the economy of $100 million or 

more; a major increase in costs or prices; 

or significant adverse effects on 

competition, employment, investment, 

productivity, innovation, or on the 

ability of the United States-based 

companies to compete with foreignbased companies in domestic and 

export markets. 

D. Executive Order 12866 

The Department has determined that 

this rule is not a ‘‘significant regulatory 

action’’ under Executive Order 12866, 

section 3(f), Regulatory Planning and 

Review, and, accordingly, this rule has 

not been submitted to the Office of 

Management and Budget for review. 

Nevertheless, the Department certifies 

that this regulation has been drafted in 

accordance with the principles of 

Executive Order 12866, section 1(b). 

The benefits of this proposed rule to 

the United States include a significant 

reduction of money spent (1) by EOIR to 

process and mail a copy of each asylum 

application to DOS, (2) by DOS to 

receive each asylum application, and (3) 

by asylum applicants to include an extra 

copy of their asylum application in their 

application packet. Currently, the total 

estimated cost to EOIR, DOS, and the 

public for this process of forwarding all 

defensive asylum applications is 

$246,014.00 (rounded to the nearest 

whole number) per year. This amount is 

based on the estimated cost to asylum 

applicants of $0.10 per photocopied 

page for an average of 14,695 defensive 

asylum applications filed in fiscal years 

2008, 2009, and 2010, with an 

approximate 125 pages per asylum 

application (including supporting 

documentation), which comes to a total 

of $183,688.00 (rounded to the nearest 

whole number). Thus, altering the 

regulation will result in significant cost 

savings to the public by eliminating the 

cost to asylum applicants of submitting 

the third copy of the asylum application 

to EOIR. 

Additionally, the cost of EOIR mailing 

each application to DOS is estimated at 

$2.54 per application. This figure is 

based on the cost per application of 

$1.00 for postage, $1.44 in employee 

costs, and $0.10 per envelope. EOIR’s 

total annual cost of mailing asylum 

applications to DOS is $37,326.00 

(rounded to the nearest whole number). 

The annual cost in human labor of 

DOS’s receipt, storage, and disposition 

of files is estimated at $25,000. This 

figure includes $20,000 spent annually 

on GS–9, step 5 employees handling 

received asylum applications by 

unpacking, sorting, removing staples, 

and processing asylum applications for 

disposal for 3 hours per day, 52 days per 

year. It also includes $5,000 spent 

annually on the incineration of asylum 

applications, based on an estimate of 

personnel hours, materials, and 

transportation to the incinerators. 

With the amendments made by this 

proposed rule, EOIR would discontinue 

forwarding every defensive asylum 

application to DOS. Instead, the 

Immigration Courts would continue to 

forward select individual applications 

where the immigration judges wish to 

ascertain whether DRL may have 

information relevant to the applicant or 

the applicant’s situation. This process 

involves EOIR employees forwarding 

the asylum application and 

supplemental material to the 

appropriate person within DRL. DRL’s 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
67102 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 210 / Monday, October 31, 2011 / Proposed Rules 

officers would review the file, conduct 

research, and have the option of 

responding, including with relevant 

country conditions information. The 

immigration judges would then take the 

relevant information into account in 

determining eligibility for asylum in 

individual cases. This commenting 

process already occurs and is already 

authorized in the regulations, so it is not 

included in the costs that an amended 

regulation would eliminate. Hence, 

altering the regulations will permit 

EOIR and DOS to save approximately 

$62,326.00 a year on the forwarding of 

all defensive asylum applications 

received by EOIR. 

Once a final rule is issued, it is 

anticipated that EOIR and USCIS will 

work to modify the instructions to the 

Form I–589 asylum application to 

reflect the changes. 

E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism 

This rule will not have substantial 

direct effects on the States, on the 

relationship between the National 

Government and the States, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government. Therefore, in 

accordance with section 6 of Executive 

Order 13132, it is determined that this 

rule does not have sufficient federalism 

implications to warrant the preparation 

of a federalism summary impact 

statement. 

F. Executive Order 12988: Civil Justice 

Reform 

This rule meets the applicable 

standards set forth in sections 3(a) and 

3(b)(2) of Executive Order 12988. 

G. Paperwork Reduction Act 

The information collection 

requirement (Form I–589) contained in 

this rule has been previously approved 

by the Office of Management and 

Budget under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act. This rule 

does not contain a new or revised 

information collection. 

List of Subjects 

8 CFR Part 1208 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Aliens, Immigration, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

8 CFR Part 1240 

Administrative practice and 

procedure, Aliens. 

Accordingly, for the reasons set forth 

in the preamble, part 1208 and part 

1240 of chapter V of title 8 of the Code 

of Federal Regulations are proposed to 

be amended as follows: 

PART 1208—PROCEDURES FOR 

ASYLUM AND WITHHOLDING OF 

REMOVAL 

1. The authority citation for part 1208 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 8 U.S.C. 1103, 1158, 1225, 

1231, 1282. 

2. Section 1208.11 is revised to read 

as follows: 

§ 1208.11 Comments from the Department 

of State. 

(a) The immigration judge may 

request, in his or her discretion, specific 

comments from the Department of State 

regarding individual cases or types of 

claims under consideration, or such 

other information as an immigration 

judge deems appropriate. 

(b) With respect to any asylum 

application, the Department of State 

may provide, at its discretion, to the 

Immigration Court: 

(1) Detailed country conditions 

information relevant to eligibility for 

asylum, withholding of removal under 

section 241(b)(3) of the Act, and 

withholding of removal under the 

Convention Against Torture; 

(2) An assessment of the accuracy of 

the applicant’s assertions about 

conditions in the applicant’s country of 

nationality or habitual residence and the 

applicant’s particular situation; 

(3) Information about whether persons 

who are similarly situated to the 

applicant are persecuted or tortured in 

their respective country of nationality or 

habitual residence and the frequency of 

such persecution or torture; or 

(4) Such other information as it deems 

relevant. 

(c) Any comments received pursuant 

to paragraph (b) of this section shall be 

made part of the record. Unless the 

comments are classified under the 

applicable Executive Order, the 

applicant shall be provided an 

opportunity to review and respond to 

such comments prior to the issuance of 

any decision to deny the application. 

* * * * * 

PART 1240—PROCEEDINGS TO 

DETERMINE REMOVABILITY OF 

ALIENS IN THE UNITED STATES 

3. The authority citation for part 1240 

continues to read: 

Authority: 8 U.S.C. 1103, 1182, 1186a, 

1224, 1225, 1226, 1227, 1251, 1252 note, 

1252a, 1252b, 1362; secs. 202 and 203, Pub. 

L. 105–100 (111 Stat. 2160, 2193); sec. 902, 

Pub. L. 105–277 (112 Stat. 2681). 

4. Amend § 1240.11 by revising 

paragraph (c)(2) to read as follows: 

§ 1240.11 Ancillary matters, applications. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

(2) An application for asylum or 

withholding of removal must be filed 

with the Immigration Court, pursuant to 

§ 1208.4(b) of this chapter. Upon receipt 

of an application, the Immigration Court 

may forward a copy to the Department 

of State pursuant to § 1208.11 of this 

chapter and shall calendar the case for 

a hearing. The reply, if any, from the 

Department of State, unless classified 

under the applicable Executive Order, 

shall be given to both the alien and to 

DHS counsel and shall be included in 

the record. 

* * * * * 

5. Amend § 1240.33 by revising 

paragraph (b) to read as follows: 

§ 1240.33 Applications for asylum or 

withholding of deportation. 

* * * * * 

(b) An application for asylum or 

withholding of deportation must be 

filed with the Immigration Court, 

pursuant to § 1208.4(b) of this chapter. 

Upon receipt of an application, the 

Immigration Court may forward a copy 

to the Department of State pursuant to 

§ 1208.11 of this chapter and shall 

calendar the case for a hearing. The 

reply, if any, from the Department of 

State, unless classified under the 

applicable Executive Order, shall be 

given to both the applicant and to DHS 

counsel and shall be included in the 

record. 

* * * * * 

6. Amend § 1240.49 by revising 

paragraph (c)(3) to read as follows: 

§ 1240.49 Ancillary matters, applications. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

(3) An application for asylum or 

withholding of deportation must be 

filed with the Immigration Court, 

pursuant to § 1208.4(b) of this chapter. 

Upon receipt of an application, the 

Immigration Court may forward a copy 

to the Department of State pursuant to 

§ 1208.11 of this chapter and shall 

calendar the case for a hearing. The 

reply, if any, of the Department of State, 

unless classified under the applicable 

Executive Order, shall be given to both 

the applicant and to DHS counsel and 

shall be included in the record. 

* * * * * 

Dated: October 21, 2011. 

Eric H. Holder, Jr., 

Attorney General. 

[FR Doc. 2011–28117 Filed 10–28–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 4410–10–P 


srobinson on DSK4SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS