The interim final rule allows US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to refer affirmative asylum applications to immigration judges without conducting an initial interview. Affirmative asylum applications are filed by people who are not in removal proceedings. Immigration judges at the Department of Justice decide defensive asylum applications filed by people already facing removal. The group said implementing the measure as an interim final rule would bypass the usual notice-and-comment process. It described the decision as “deeply alarming and harmful” and said it would deny asylum applicants basic due process.