WASHINGTON DC — As the United States government prepares to end provisions related to the coronavirus pandemic that have significantly restricted the ability of asylum seekers to enter the United States, it has proposed a rule that could dramatically alter the issue. who can request asylum at the southern border.
The legislation comes as Biden faces intense criticism from Republicans who are trying to make immigration a major issue in the upcoming election. Some of the president’s positions on immigration, including the proposed rules, have drawn criticism from immigration advocates and even Democratic allies.
Here’s a look at the regulations:
WHAT DOES THE NEW REGULATION CONSIST OF AND WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE WITH WHAT IS DONE BY TRUMP?
The regulation was announced on Tuesday and was due to be formally published on Thursday.
- It will generally deny asylum to migrants presenting themselves at the southern border who have not first sought protection in a country through which they have transited.
- The regulations generally provide for people to use what the government describes as “legal, safe and orderly avenues,” such as request an appointment to process asylum through an app or humanitarian parole program for specific countriesto enter the United States.
- Los children are exempt from the measure.
Critics say the rule basically reproduces some of the worst policies of former President Donald Trump, who sought numerous alternatives to restrict immigration. Melissa Crow, an attorney with the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, described the proposal as a “jumble” of two things that Trump had already tried: barring people from entering the country between ports of access and preventing migrants from accessing asylum if they arrive through another country before entering the United States and do not first apply for protection there.
- Crow reported that the biggest difference between Biden’s proposal and Trump’s transit provision was thatduring the previous government, people were automatically excluded from access to asylum.
- According to Biden’s proposalit is now a “rebuttable presumption of ineligibility for asylum” and some exceptions are allowed.
- However, Crow described the exceptions as “narrow” and said that Ultimately, US law allows people to apply for asylum at the border.
WHAT DOES THE US GOVERNMENT SAY?
The government described the regulation as basically a necessary tool for when the restrictions put in place during the pandemic to limit the spread of COVID-19, known as Title 42, end.
The government says that once Title 42 expires, the number of encounters between border officials and migrants trying to enter the United States at the southern border could be as many as 13,000 a day. By comparison, there were 1,600 daily encounters on average from 2014 to 2019. Without this rule, border officials say immigration “will increase substantially to a level that threatens to undermine the … ability to safely, effectively, and humanely administer immigration law.” immigration”.
They emphasize that this is temporary, because it is supposed to last two years, while at the same time offering legal routes for people to enter the United States.
Specifically, the rule repeatedly mentions a program announced in January that gives people from four countries — Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela — the opportunity to come to the United States, as well as a cell phone app that migrants can use to get an appointment at the border in order to submit your asylum application. All of this, they allege, distinguishes it from Trump’s politics.
The government has described its strategy as one of carrot and stick, but critics say the carrot is not enough. Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said her organization applauds the expanded routes for those four countries announced in January, but the question is where are migrants from other countries staying.
- He says the strategy favors people with resources who can afford to find a financial backer and buy a plane ticket to the United States.
- Additionally, some people face such a dangerous situation that they simply cannot wait in their country for a parole vacancy.
- Critics have also pointed out flaws in the app.
The regulations have also faced criticism from the right.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform said in a statement that the provision is not designed to detain migrants so much as to make the process more orderly.
“In other words, the real goal is not to end large-scale asylum abuse, but rather to get the issue through the next election cycle,” he says.
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF MEXICO IN THIS?
The United States shares a roughly 2,000-mile border with Mexico, and hundreds of thousands of people seeking asylum in that area each year have to transit through at least some portion of Mexican territory to enter US soil. All of which means that if the United States wants to stop people from entering the country, it would clearly be better to enlist the help of Mexico.
The United States said in the provision that it was in “close consultation” with the Mexican government and “other foreign partners” to accept the return of third-country nationals once Title 42 expires. The United States added that the Mexican government’s decision to Starting to receive citizens from the four countries also depended in part on Washington creating new processes for people from those countries to actually enter US soil without having to make the perilous journey overland.
So far, Mexico has not made a statement on the proposal.
This regulation could affect Mexicans, because they do not have to cross through a third country to reach the United States.
WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER COUNTRIES IN THE REGION?
The rule generally denies asylum to migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border who have not first sought the protection of a country through which they have transited. The legislation highlights the work the United States has done to improve legal migration in other countries in the Western Hemisphere and touts its success in Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador.
Mexico, for example, has emerged as one of the “main countries that receive asylum applications in the world.” Ecuador is home to more than 500,000 people displaced from Venezuela, a country devastated by the crisis, the regulations highlight.
However, immigration advocates argue that other countries do not always provide the same protections as the United States.
WHATS NEXT?
Once the regulation is published, there is a 30-day period for US citizens to submit comments, before it takes its final form. The regulation enters into force when Title 42 is cancelled.
That’s scheduled for May 11, but the fortunes of Title 42 have changed in the past year due to attempts by Republican-leaning states to keep it in place through lawsuits, so there’s no guarantee it will go away on May 11.
Immigrant advocates have hinted that they will file lawsuits when the Biden administration’s regulations go into effect, if at all.
Additionally, they are planning to flood the Federal Register, the official journal of the United States government, with adverse comments.
However, Elizabeth Taufa, of the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, said that the fact that the government provided the 30-day comment period, rather than the more usual 60 days that she would expect to such a large change indicates that a change in the measure is unlikely.
It is an “indication that they are hell-bent on this,” he added.