<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1654014479464,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000016c-727c-d9b2-af6f-f7ff06a00003","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1654014479464,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000016c-727c-d9b2-af6f-f7ff06a00003","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_54014474", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"998213"} }); ","_id":"00000181-1af2-d297-a5e3-1ff7051e0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThe Biden administration is implementing major changes to processing asylum-seekers at the southern border, and Republicans are worried it will speed up the rate of migrant releases into the United States.
Starting Tuesday, asylum officers from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began hearing and deciding asylum claims of migrants taken into custody at two unspecified locations in Texas. The pilot program will only apply to several hundred asylum-seekers in each of the first few months.
The change is a departure from the decades-old standard of federal immigration judges making the final call on asylum applicants. Migrants who illegally cross the southern border have a right to claim a fear of being persecuted in their home country before they are removed from the U.S.
Republicans are concerned that asylum officers may be more inclined to approve these migrants than other federal workers, according to Cris Ramon, an immigration analyst in Chicago.
UVALDE BORDER PATROL AGENTS STRUGGLING TO COPE WITH WHAT THEY SAW
Some, including Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), are worried that the process is flawed. Asylum-seekers who have their claims denied by an officer are to be immediately deported, but the system allows for individuals to appeal rejections, resulting in their being released into the U.S. for the duration of that yearslong process.
“While the executive branch is trying to do something, their something that they are doing doesn’t actually fix the issue. We have to change this issue in law,” Lankford said in a floor speech last week.
Republicans in Congress unsuccessfully moved to block the rule late last week. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) argued that the new process “exacerbates” the chaotic state of the southern border because it will lead to more asylum-seekers choosing to travel to the U.S. if they believe their claims will be more quickly adjudicated.
“The Biden administration is sending a clear message: our borders are open, you will not be detained, and your asylum claim does not have to be heard by a judge,” Johnson said in a statement. “I strongly oppose the Biden administration’s brazen attempt to rewrite the asylum laws in America by executive fiat. The changes the administration is proposing can only be made by Congress.”
However, the Biden administration defended the move as a big step forward in speeding up the asylum process and lowering the number of new cases added to the 1.8 million case backlog before 500 immigration judges nationwide.
“Individuals who qualify for asylum will receive protection more swiftly, and those who are not eligible will be promptly removed rather than remaining in the U.S. for years while their cases are pending,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on May 26.
The DHS first announced the rule change in March, two months ahead of its implementation date on May 31. The change was supposed to go into effect in response to the conclusion of Title 42, a pandemic public health policy that has allowed border agents to turn away noncitizens seeking asylum or who illegally enter the country. A federal judge in May barred the government from ending Title 42.
In response, the Biden administration has chosen to return to a border procedure that previous administrations have also used: expedited removal. If a person claims asylum during the expedited removal process, he or she will undergo an initial asylum screening called a “credible fear” interview with an asylum officer.
Typically, Border Patrol agents or Customs and Border Protection officers at land ports of entry have screened asylum-seekers. Now, migrants in detention at the two Texas facilities have voiced plans to go on to Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark, or San Francisco if they are released and will be the only people included in the pilot program.
If an asylum-seeker passes the initial screening, he or she will have the final decision made in 21 to 45 days. Ramon criticized the Biden administration for not disclosing how it plans to handle those in this separate docket, including whether they will remain in detention or be released and tracked through electronic monitoring systems.
“The administration hasn’t really outlined what happens to the individuals as they’re going through this process,” Ramon said.
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Those who are not approved will be placed in court proceedings to be removed from the U.S.
