The top asylum official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will be reassigned, according to five current and former DHS officials and an agency email reviewed by POLITICO.

The official — Asylum Division Chief John Lafferty — will become deputy director of the Potomac Service Center in Arlington, Va., beginning Sept. 10, the email said.


The decision comes as President Donald Trump proceeds with a sweeping overhaul of the asylum system, which offers protection for people who face persecution in their home countries.

Trump and his top officials have argued that many asylum seekers don’t have valid claims and use the benefit to remain in the U.S. and work legally. The administration has plowed ahead with a range of policies to limit access to asylum, including the “remain in Mexico” initiative, which forces certain non-Mexico asylum seekers to stay in that country while they await rulings on their cases.

The White House blamed Lafferty, who has led the asylum division for the past six years, for an inability to toughen asylum standards, according to one current DHS official.

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In particular, the administration has sought to tighten the standard to claim “credible fear” of persecution in one’s home country. The credible fear test is the first step in certain asylum claims, and the administration contends it allows people to enter the U.S. even if ultimately they won’t be granted asylum.


A USCIS spokesperson said in a written statement that the agency retains discretion to move senior executives to different roles within the department, but did not comment on Lafferty’s case specifically.

“USCIS, like other federal entities, has a mobile group of senior executives who qualify for a variety of positions,” the spokesperson said. “USCIS has the authority to reassign these high-level managers to best serve the agency.“

BuzzFeed News first tweeted Lafferty’s reassignment. The outlet also reported in July that Lafferty criticized the Trump administration’s chaotic approach to policymaking in an email to staffers.

The email specifically focused on the implementation of a new ban on asylum seekers who transit through another country en route to the U.S.

"We are once again being asked to adapt and to do so with very little time to train and prepare," he wrote. "If I didn't know that we have some of the most dedicated, most adaptable and most talented public servants presently serving in the federal government I would be concerned about being able to implement these changes on such short notice."


A federal judge in San Francisco blocked the third-country asylum ban nationwide in July, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals limited the injunction several weeks later to its jurisdiction in California and Arizona. That allowed the policy to be put into place in New Mexico and Texas.

The email that announced Lafferty’s new role came from Jennifer Higgins, an associate director for refugee and asylum operations.

“John has served with distinction as the chief of the asylum division for the past six years and has led the division through some of its most challenging times and a period of unprecedented growth and change,” Higgins wrote. “John’s leadership was characterized by a selfless, unwavering, and passionate commitment to those he served — the applicants, his staff, and the American public.”

In the new role, Lafferty will help oversee 700 agency staff and 200 contractors processing permanent resident applications and international student work permits, according to the email.

He will be replaced in an acting capacity by Andrew Davidson, currently the deputy associate director for the agency’s fraud detection and national security directorate.

Lafferty did not immediately respond to a request for comment.