The Biden administration on Thursday announced new regulations aimed at allowing immigration officials to more quickly identify and deport migrants who are ineligible for US asylum earlier in the process.
The Department of Homeland Security regulation would apply to migrants seeking asylum after illegally crossing the US-Mexico border. CBS News reported the administration's plans earlier this week. At this point, as a proposed regulation, it must go through a public comment period before entering into force.
It would tell government asylum officers to apply certain barriers to asylum that are already part of US law during so-called credible fear interviews, the first step in the years-long asylum process. Those who pass these interviews can apply for asylum before an immigration judge, while those who fail cannot be quickly deported.
On a call with reporters, a senior national security official said this would affect migrants who pose “significant threats” to public safety and national security, such as suspected terrorists. These are migrants “we are very concerned about,” the official said, but the size of the population is “limited.”
Migrants barred by US asylum law include those who may pose a danger to public safety or national security. The rule would allow officials to reject and deport migrants in these categories soon after they cross the border.
Separately, DHS also issued new guidance Thursday to asylum officers instructing them to disqualify asylum migrants before the immigration process if they can move to other parts of their home country where they can be safe
The new regulation, relatively narrow in scope, is one of several actions the Biden administration has been considering to restrict access to the U.S. asylum system amid a surge in applications in recent years. years, mainly driven by migrants crossing the southern border illegally.
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President Biden is too considering invoking broad presidential authority to enact a broader restriction on asylum before the November election, sources with knowledge of the deliberations told CBS News. The authority, known as 212(f), allows presidents to suspend the entry of migrants whose arrival is deemed harmful to the interests of the United States. Former President Donald Trump invoked the law to justify several immigration restrictions, including a ban on travel to majority-Muslim countries.
Although the recently announced regulation will not affect a mass number of migrants, it still reinforces a policy shift by Mr. Biden, who early in his presidency promised to “reset” the US asylum system.
But after record levels of migrant apprehensions along the southern border, including more than 2 million in each of the past two years, and an accompanying political backlash, Mr. Biden's administration has enacted and proposed rules to 'asylum more restrictive.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez
