The Biden administration will immediately reverse a policy implemented under former President Donald Trump limiting the number of asylum-seekers who can apply at land ports of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Customs and Border Protection disclosed the new policy in a memo issued Monday, ending the agency’s two-year practice of “metering” or capping the number of migrants who could make asylum claims daily.
“Today, Secretary [Alejandro] Mayorkas rescinded Secretary [Kirstjen] Nielsen’s June 5, 2018 memorandum, Prioritization-Based Queue Management, upon my recommendation,” acting CBP Commissioner Troy Miller wrote in a memo, referring to the previous and current Department of Homeland Security secretaries.
BIDEN ADMINISTRATION TRIES TO PREVENT NEW MIGRANT SURGE AS IT REOPENS LAND BORDERS
The Trump administration had implemented the cap while higher than normal numbers of noncitizens were applying for asylum in the United States. As a result of the cap, some asylum-seekers opted to enter the U.S. illegally by crossing the border between ports of entry, where Border Patrol agents would take them into custody. As many families began illegally entering the country in 2019, CBP was overwhelmed and increasingly released people into the U.S., unable to detain them.
The Biden administration will instead increase the number of its CBP Office of Field Operations officers assigned to registering asylum-seekers claims at the ports of entry on the southern border.
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The added responsibility comes at a challenging time for ports of entry nationwide. On Nov. 8, ports will begin allowing vaccinated tourists to travel into the U.S. for the first time in a year and a half. Long lines are expected, CBP officials said in a briefing Tuesday.
