Biden DHS May Exempt Vulnerable Asylum-Seekers from COVID ‘Turn Back’ Policy; Growing Number of Migrant Families Allowed Into U.S. to Seek Asylum, and related stories

Biden DHS May Exempt Vulnerable Asylum-Seekers from COVID ‘Turn Back’ Policy:

The Biden administration is considering creating a formal system that issues exceptions to a Trump-era policy which allows border patrol agents to immediately turn back asylum-seekers who arrive at the southern border.

The proposal comes amid backlash over Biden’s decision to continue a Trump-era public health measure, implemented in response to COVID-19, which allows border patrol to immediately turn away immigrants who show up to the border claiming asylum. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is deliberating a new process to except certain vulnerable asylum-seekers from the public health measure, according to documents acquired by BuzzFeed News.

Border officials have been applying the Title 42 section of the public health code to dismiss migrant cases at the border to curb COVID-19 transmission since March 2020. The Trump administration started invoking the Title 42 policy to protect border patrol agents and U.S. communities along the border from the coronavirus.

The new DHS plan would maintain connections in Mexico to identify individuals with qualifying vulnerable situations. The background information and biometric data of selected people would be forwarded to U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel for review —>READ MORE HERE

Biden administration is easing ban on asylum-seeking families at ports of entry that Trump administration implemented at pandemic’s start

The Biden administration is allowing a growing number of migrant families seeking asylum to enter the U.S. at legal border crossings, in a change from a year-old Trump-era policy aimed at blocking them entirely, according to people familiar with the process and government data.

In the first three weeks of April, about 1,080 people traveling as families have been processed at border crossings and allowed to enter the U.S., according to internal Customs and Border Protection data.

In February the government let in 301 such people, and in March, 719. The Trump administration closed legal border crossings to most traffic, including migrant families, last March under a public health emergency order.

Though the Biden administration has said the border remains closed to nonessential travel and asylum seekers, it has been increasingly allowing exceptions for some families and unaccompanied children, government officials confirmed Friday.

The shift comes as a fast-growing number of families have been apprehended crossing the border illegally to try to claim asylum, including about 53,000 in March. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to related stories:

Report: Biden Administration Releasing Hundreds of Migrant Families a Day into U.S.

Illegal Immigrants Fly American, Courtesy of Biden Border Policy

Government to spend $352 per night on hotel beds for 80,000 migrant families

15,000 migrants released into US without notices to appear in court, congressman says

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