There are two ways through which an immigrant living in Arizona can seek asylum.
Asylum is a process by which a person who otherwise might not be authorized to live in the United States can remain in the country in order to avoid religious, political or other types of persecution.
In an affirmative asylum case, a person ordinarily has to apply for asylum within one year after arriving in the country. A person need not have documented status in order to seek asylum, and the reason why the person is in the United States does not matter.
The affirmative asylum process involves filing the proper paperwork and going to an interview with an immigration officer.
The interview is what is called non-adversarial, meaning that the asylum seeker will in theory be able to tell his or her story freely without having to worry about courtroom procedures or a cross-examination from the government.
Moreover, if affirmative asylum gets denied for some reason, the person will have the right to have another hearing in front of an immigration judge.
Finally, those who seek affirmative asylum are usually given the liberty to live freely in the United States while their cases are pending. On the other hand, they usually will not have authority to work.
As the name suggests, defensive asylum is a legal defense to deportation.
Those in the Phoenix area who are facing deportation because of immigration violations or because they tried to come into the United States without documentation may be able to use defensive asylum to get their removal order overturned.
The immigration judge makes the decision and will conduct the matter like a trial, meaning rule of evidence may apply and representatives from the government will be present to contest the immigrant’s case.