The Biden administration's New Immigration Regulation
The Biden administration is planning to announce a new regulation as early as Thursday that is designed to allow immigration officials to deport migrants who are ineligible for U.S. asylum earlier in the process, three sources familiar with the internal plans told CBS News.
The regulation by the Department of Homeland Security would apply to migrants who ask for asylum after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to talk about the rule before its formal announcement.
It would instruct government asylum officers to apply certain barriers to asylum that are already part of U.S. law during so-called credible fear interviews. This is the first step in the years-long asylum process. Those who pass these interviews are allowed to seek asylum before an immigration judge, while those who fail them can be deported expeditiously.
Migrants barred under U.S. law from asylum 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.
The regulation, which is 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 spike in applications in recent years, mostly driven by migrants crossing the southern border illegally.
Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
President Biden is also considering invoking a sweeping presidential authority to enact a broader restriction on asylum ahead of the election in November, 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 to be detrimental to U.S. interests. Former President Donald Trump invoked the law several times to justify several immigration restrictions, including a travel ban on predominantly Muslim countries.
The president has not yet announced a final decision on the 212(f) order that has been considered for months.
While the upcoming regulation will not affect massive numbers of migrants, it still reinforces a policy shift by Mr. Biden, who earlier in his presidency promised to "restore" the U.S. asylum system.
But after record levels of migrant apprehensions along the southern border, including over 2 million in each of the past two years, and an accompanying political backlash, Mr. Biden's administration has enacted and floated more restrictive asylum rules.
In the past year, a regulation was released by the government which disqualifies migrants from seeking asylum if they enter the United States unlawfully without first requesting humanitarian protection in a third country, such as Mexico.
This regulation has been accompanied by an unprecedented increase in opportunities for potential migrants to enter the U.S. through legal means. These initiatives include a mobile phone application that allows migrants in Mexico to schedule appointments for processing at official border crossings and a program that permits certain migrants to fly to the U.S. with American sponsors.
Following a peak in December, the number of migrant crossings along the southern border has dropped by more than 40% this year. In April, illegal crossings decreased to around 129,000, marking the second consecutive monthly decline, as per internal Border Patrol data obtained by CBS News.
American officials attribute the significant decrease in migration to heightened deportations and increased efforts by Mexico to prevent migrants from reaching the U.S. border. Texas state authorities also believe that their actions, such as installing miles of razor wire along border sections, have contributed to the decrease in crossings.
