Biden plans to tighten access to asylum at the US-Mexico border, sources say

American news

By Reuters

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration will tighten access to asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border through a new regulation that could be issued Thursday, four sources familiar with the matter said, in a targeted move aimed at reducing illegal crossings .

The regulation requires migrants to be assessed at an initial stage of asylum screening to see whether they should be excluded from asylum and quickly deported, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss internal government planning.

They added that the measure appeared limited in scope.

The migrants would be assessed for asylum bans related to crime and security threats, two sources said.

The new scheme would improve efficiency by screening asylum seekers earlier in the process to determine whether they should be excluded, one of the sources, a US official, told Reuters.

It would be issued as a proposed ordinance and finalized at a later date, the official said.

U.S. President Joe Biden, a Democrat who is seeking another four-year term in the Nov. 5 election, has faced a record number of migrants caught crossing the border between the two countries since taking office in 2021. USA and Mexico.

Former President Donald Trump, Biden’s Republican challenger, has criticized Biden for reversing more restrictive Trump-era policies.

The Biden administration has considered a more drastic measure to block asylum seekers and migrants at the border using a federal statute introduced by Trump in his travel bans, but has no immediate plans to take that step, the sources said.

Biden introduced new asylum restrictions last year, but their effectiveness has been limited by a lack of resources to process arriving migrants.

The regulation expected to be issued this week could mean thousands of people are deported from the US more quickly each year, two sources said, a relatively small number compared to the total number caught crossing illegally.