At Campos Law Firm, we closely monitor developments in U.S. immigration policy to protect our clients’ rights and future. A case reported by the Associated Press on September 8, 2026, raises a question many people with a pending case ask us: what happens when the law closes the door on asylum?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Esto es lo que se sabe, lo que no se sabe y lo que puedes hacer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marlon Gerardo S\u00e1enz Cruz, 65, known in Nicaragua as “el Chino Enoc,” arrived in Washington in February 2023 as part of a group of 222 political prisoners<\/strong> whom the government of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo released from prison, expelled and stripped of Nicaraguan citizenship. According to Refugees International, everyone in that group received two years of humanitarian parole after a transfer arranged by the State Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n S\u00e1enz publicly acknowledged taking part as a paramilitary during the 2018 crackdown on protests, later broke with the Sandinista government and was imprisoned in Nicaragua in May 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained him on August 17, 2026<\/strong>, in Los Angeles when he appeared for an immigration appointment, according to AP; Nicaraguan outlets place the arrest at a second asylum interview. He is held at the Central Louisiana ICE Processing Center and appeared before an immigration judge on September 8, 2026. ICE did not respond to AP’s request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyone physically present in the United States may aplicar<\/strong> for asylum, regardless of how they entered. Whether the law allows it to be granted is a separate question: section 208(b)(2)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) lists bars that block a grant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two points matter here. A bar is not a criminal conviction<\/strong>; it is decided inside the immigration case under its own standard of proof. And in Matter of Negusie<\/em> (2020) the Attorney General held that coercion or duress does not create an exception to the persecutor bar, a position still being litigated in the federal courts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is where the confusion usually starts. Protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) does not look at who you are or what you did. It looks at what would happen to you if you were sent back<\/strong>. You must show it is “more likely than not” that you would be tortured with the participation or acquiescence of a public official (8 CFR 1208.18).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It comes in two very different forms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is why a case like this is not simply won or lost. A person can be barred from asylum and still not be returned to the country where they would be tortured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is the least settled part. In D.V.D. contra el DHS<\/em>, a federal judge in Massachusetts found the third-country removal policy unlawful on February 25, 2026, and ordered the government to seek removal to the designated country first. On March 16, 2026, the First Circuit kept that ruling on hold and set an expedited appeal, which means there is no uniform federal standard right now<\/strong> for advance notice and a chance to express fear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Savi Arvey, of Human Rights First, told AP that even if he wins protection from a U.S. immigration judge, “it’s not ensured safety.” For someone already stripped of nationality, a third country adds one more risk: statelessness<\/strong>, with no country recognizing them as a citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A case where asylum bars, torture risk and a possible third-country transfer all meet is not solved with a template. It takes a full record review, careful deadline tracking, and a deliberate choice of which protection to seek and with what evidence. That is the work we do in nuestra pr\u00e1ctica en materia de inmigraci\u00f3n<\/a>. We do not make unrealistic promises. We provide serious legal representation backed by preparation and integrity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No dejes tu situaci\u00f3n migratoria al azar. Ll\u00e1manos hoy mismo al +1 (844) 922-6767<\/strong> para concertar una consulta gratuita y confidencial en ingl\u00e9s o en espa\u00f1ol. Bufete de Abogados Campos: soluciones jur\u00eddicas en todas las \u00e1reas del derecho.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" El caso de un hombre nicarag\u00fcense detenido por el ICE en agosto de 2026 pone de manifiesto una distinci\u00f3n que muchas familias nunca llegan a conocer: que se deniegue una solicitud de asilo no siempre significa que no quede ninguna protecci\u00f3n.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":8001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8000"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8002,"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8000\/revisions\/8002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/camposlawfirm.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Why can the law close the door on asylum?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The door that stays open: the Convention Against Torture<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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What if the government tries to send you to a third country?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u00bfQu\u00e9 puedes hacer ahora?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Protege tu situaci\u00f3n migratoria con el bufete de abogados Campos<\/h2>\n\n\n\n