Biden Administration Weighs Reviving Trump Border Asylum Ban; Biden Administration Eyes Limits on Asylum as Border Policy Set to Expire

WSJ: Biden Administration Weighs Reviving Trump Border Asylum Ban:

Proposal is one of several under discussion to replace Title 42, a pandemic policy regarding asylum seekers

The Biden administration is thinking about reviving a Trump administration policy to limit who can claim asylum after crossing the border illegally, according to people familiar with the situation.

The plan is the most drastic of several under discussion as the Biden administration prepares to end Title 42. That pandemic-era policy, which allows border agents to turn away migrants at the border even if they ask for asylum, ends Dec. 21.

A court ruled that the policy, adopted in 2020 by the Trump administration and one the Biden administration has expanded, is illegal because it violates immigration laws, a ruling President Biden’s team hasn’t yet challenged.

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said that reports indicating U.S. policy will change are inaccurate and that no such decisions have been made.

The court initially set the Dec. 21 deadline to end Title 42 at the administration’s request last month. But in a Friday afternoon court filing, lawyers with the Justice Department told the court that they were still deciding whether to appeal the ruling and would make a decision by Dec. 7.

Border officials are projecting that an end to Title 42 would result in a further rise in already-elevated daily border crossings. Such an increase would threaten to break a fragile system of transferring migrants from Border Patrol custody to city or private shelters, resulting either in dangerous crowding inside Border Patrol stations or releases of migrants onto the street. —>READ MORE HERE

Biden administration eyes limits on asylum as border policy set to expire:

With a Trump-era border policy set to end days before Christmas, the Biden administration is weighing restrictive immigration limits for asylum-seekers arriving at the U.S. southern border, according to reports.

Democrats in Congress have raised concerns that the administration has not prepared sufficiently for the expected disorder once Title 42 ends. The policy has allowed the United States to expel hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the country without hearing an asylum request. But after a federal judge declared the policy unlawful last month, the administration is under order to end its use by Dec. 21. The Justice Department said in a recent court filing that it would decide whether to appeal the decision by Dec. 7.

U.S. officials eyeing the potential for a massive immigration event are meanwhile weighing strategies that could see prosecutions of illegal crossings rise, discussions that have included top officials from the White House National Security Council, Department of Homeland Security, State Department, and Justice Department, according to Axios.

One proposal would prohibit immigrants from coming to the U.S. unless Mexico or another country first denies them asylum. Another would increase criminal prosecutions for adults traveling alone, particularly those who evade border enforcement.

Other measures would seek to incentivize legal migration pathways, including raising the cap on the number of Venezuelans who can qualify for entry. Those who attempt to cross the border illegally will be returned to Mexico as part of a temporary program that is soon to expire. —>READ MORE HERE

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