Biden Administration Takes A Page From Trump’s Immigration Handbook

Similar to a strategy used during the Trump administration, the Biden administration is suggesting tighter limits for asylum applicants. According to Biden Administration officials, the new regulation would prevent migrants who do not utilize legitimate avenues to seek asylum or otherwise seek asylum or protection in the countries they travel through.

This rule is a reaction to the immigration limits in Title 42. The restriction resembles a policy used by the Trump administration that similarly prohibited asylum seekers from requesting refuge in another nation.

According to the Biden Administration, the proposed rule will encourage migrants to use authorized, safe, and orderly entry routes into the United States or seek protection in the countries where they travel, thus reducing their reliance on human smuggling networks that exploit migrants for profit. The Departments of Homeland Security and Justice indicated in a letter that they had received Tuesday’s notice of proposed regulation. The proposed regulation would add a rebuttable presumption of ineligibility for asylum for certain noncitizens who neither utilize a legitimate, safe, and orderly route to the United States nor seek asylum or other protection in the nation through which they travel.

It is likely that the number of migrants traveling without authorization to the United States will increase significantly without such a measure,  to the degree that could undermine the Department’s ability to enforce and administer U.S. immigration law, including asylum laws, despite exceptionally challenging circumstances.

DHS and DOJ are optimistic that the new limitations would lower the number of people crossing the southern border. This will assist in reducing the influence of human traffickers and the number of migrants residing in congested border facilities. This drop in numbers would ensure that more migrants are processed. The departments wrote that the numbers would surely decrease if done effectively, compassionately, and efficiently.

After a public discussion, the new regulations will go into force on May 11th. The Biden administration intends to stop COVID-19 national or public health crises on the same day. Additionally, Title 42, the constraints that allow authorities to reject migrants due to public health concerns would be eliminated.

These limits closely resemble the same bar on asylum implemented by the Trump administration. These limitations are also known as asylum bans and transit bans.   From the very start of the administration of former President Trump, the prohibitions were contentious and battled vehemently in the courts. In 2018 and 2020, the courts ruled against the Trump-era bans. On Trump’s last day in office, the final regulation took effect. A judge, however, determined that it must be repealed.

Democrats and immigration supporters slammed the new regulations because they resembled Trump’s ideas. The Biden administration denied these complaints and emphasized that options were offered for asylum-seeking. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas refuted the allegations and stated that his approach was based on a “rebuttable assumption of ineligibility.”  According to Mayorkas, there is a clear distinction between the two.

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