Opinion ID: 4546294
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Safe-Third-Country Bar

Text: In 1995, the Attorney General promulgated a regulation allowing discretionary denials of asylum in certain circumstances where asylum or its near equivalent was available in a safe third country. 8 C.F.R. § 208.15 (1995). A year later, in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, § 604, Pub. L. No. EAST BAY SANCTUARY COVENANT V. BARR 17 104–208, 110 Stat. 3009, 3009–690 (1996) (“IIRIRA”), Congress codified, with some changes, the Attorney General’s regulation. Section 1158(a)(2)(A), the safe-thirdcountry bar, provides: Paragraph [a](1) [authorizing refugees to apply for asylum] shall not apply to an alien if the Attorney General determines that the alien may be removed, pursuant to a bilateral or multilateral agreement, to a country . . . in which the alien’s life or freedom would not be threatened on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion, and where the alien would have access to a full and fair procedure for determining a claim to asylum or equivalent temporary protection . . . . (emphases added.) As indicated by the italicized language, there are two core requirements that must be satisfied before the safe-thirdcountry bar applies. First, there must be an agreement between the United States and another country to which the alien would be removed and in which the alien would not be subject to persecution. Second, the country with which the United States has such an agreement must allow access to a “full and fair” procedure for determining eligibility for asylum or equivalent temporary protection. In 2002, the United States entered into a safe-thirdcountry agreement with Canada. See Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Canada for Cooperation in the Examination 18 EAST BAY SANCTUARY COVENANT V. BARR of Refugee Status Claims from Nationals of Third Countries, Can.–U.S., Dec. 5, 2002, T.I.A.S. No. 04-1229 (2004). When the Rule was issued, the United States had entered into no other safe-third-country agreement.