WASHINGTON — Federal asylum officers can deny interviews to asylum seekers and send them immediately to an immigration judge, speeding up deportation proceedings, under a rule U.S. The move is a departure from how USCIS handles asylum cases. Asylum officers can use the new rule when USCIS determines that an applicant is barred from applying for asylum, barred from receiving asylum, does not merit a grant of asylum and is not eligible for asylum based on merits of their claim. The rule also removes language that asylum seekers have the “right” to an interview. The agency also estimates that about 132,000 future applications for asylum could be impacted.