Who was in charge of vetting asylum seekers in the year 2024
Executive summary
In 2024 responsibility for vetting asylum seekers in the United States was shared across Department of Homeland Security components—primarily U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers who conduct interviews and initial screenings, with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carrying out frontline processing and detention-related checks, and multiple interagency partners performing biometric and national-security vetting [1] [2] [3]. The U.S. government also emphasized a portfolio of new rules and centralized vetting tools—DHS and DOJ rulemaking, the Asylum Vetting Center, and the National Vetting Center—to push earlier security screening and faster adjudication in 2024 [4] [5] [6].
1. Who was doing the day‑to‑day vetting: asylum officers, CBP and ICE
USCIS asylum officers handled affirmative interviews and credible‑fear screenings that determine whether a claim proceeds; their threshold screening interviews and asylum interviews were central to the adjudicative piece of vetting [1] [7]. CBP performed initial port‑of‑entry processing and TECS‑based checks that flag national security or terrorism concerns at first contact [2]. ICE handled detention, removal proceedings and follow‑up law‑enforcement checks when cases entered the enforcement pipeline [2].
2. Security vetting was explicitly interagency and biometric
USCIS and refugee processing are not unilateral: biometric and biographic checks run against FBI, DoD, NCTC, Interpol and other holdings; refugee and asylum applicants undergo repeated checks at multiple stages of processing [3] [2] [8]. The Department of State, DHS components and the National Vetting Center coordinated to consolidate and accelerate those checks for FY2024 [6] [3].
3. New policies in 2024 shifted who decides and when vetting affects eligibility
DHS and DOJ issued rulemaking in 2024 to allow asylum bars and higher‑threshold security findings to be applied earlier—potentially shortening the window between encounter and removal—and directed asylum officers to consider relocation within home countries during credible‑fear assessments [4] [9]. Those moves meant asylum officers and DHS leadership gained more authority to deny claims quickly where vetting or statutory bars were apparent [4].
4. Specialized units and the Asylum Vetting Center centralized certain tasks
USCIS expanded centralized processing through offices such as the Asylum Vetting Center (based in Atlanta) and guidance that certain filings be routed to centralized vetting locations; these centers and USCIS Fraud Detection and National Security (FDNS) units review social media and other open‑source indicators as part of enhanced review [5] [3].
5. Oversight and criticism: watchdogs flagged gaps in screening
The DHS Office of Inspector General audited 2024 vetting and screening practices and concluded improvements were needed—signaling that while multiple agencies share responsibility, coordination and capacity shortfalls affected performance [10] [11]. Congressional critics also accused DHS leadership of weakening vetting at the border; those critiques focus on policy choices and resource allocation rather than a single responsible individual or office [12].
6. Volume and pace changed how vetting functioned in practice
Credible‑fear interviews and credible‑fear decisions surged in FY2024—USCIS recorded historically high numbers—forcing agencies to triage cases and prompting administrative measures (such as new IFRs and final rules) to adjust adjudication speed and vetting priorities [13] [9]. Those operational pressures meant responsibility remained the same on paper but execution changed at scale [13] [9].
7. What the sources do not resolve
Available sources do not mention a single person “in charge” of all asylum vetting in 2024; instead they describe a distributed system across USCIS, CBP, ICE, the Department of State and intelligence partners [1] [2] [3]. Sources also do not provide a comprehensive organogram naming one official as sole head of vetting for asylum seekers in 2024 (not found in current reporting).
8. Bottom line and competing perspectives
Fact: USCIS asylum officers and DHS frontline agencies carried out screening and adjudication, backed by interagency biometric and intelligence checks [1] [2] [3]. Perspective: DHS and the Administration framed 2024 rule changes as necessary to improve security and speed processing [4] [9]. Counterpoint: OIG and some lawmakers argued the system needed stronger coordination and resources and that policy changes risked reducing protections or thoroughness [10] [11] [12]. Readers should see “who was in charge” not as a single officeholder but as a distributed, interagency responsibility shaped by policy choices in 2024 [1] [3] [4].