Liam Conner
The Biden administration is planning to announce a new regulation as early as Thursday designed to allow immigration authorities to deport migrants ineligible for U.S. asylum early in the process, three sources familiar with the domestic plans told CBS News.
The Department of Homeland Security regulation would apply to migrants who seek asylum after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the sources, who requested anonymity to speak about the rule before its formal announcement.
It would instruct government asylum officials to enforce 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 can apply for asylum before an immigration judge, while those who don’t can be quickly deported.
Migrants barred from asylum by U.S. law include those who may pose a danger to public or national security. The rule would allow authorities to reject and deport migrants in these categories shortly after crossing the border.
The regulation, relatively narrow in scope, is one of several actions the Biden administration has considered to restrict access to the U.S. asylum system amid a surge in applications in recent years, driven largely by migrants illegally crossing the southern border. .
HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images
Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
President Biden is also considering invoking overarching presidential authority to enact a broader asylum restriction ahead of the November election, 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 considered harmful to U.S. interests. Former President Donald Trump invoked the law 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, which has been under consideration for months.
Although the upcoming regulation will not affect a large number of migrants, it still reinforces a policy shift by Biden, who at the beginning of his presidency promised to “restore” the US asylum system.
But after record levels of migrant apprehensions along the southern border, including more than 2 million in each of the past two years, and an accompanying political backlash, the Biden administration enacted and rolled out more restrictive asylum rules.
Last year, the administration published a regulation that disqualifies migrants from seeking asylum if they enter the U.S. illegally after failing to request humanitarian protection in a third country, such as Mexico.
The administration coupled this restriction with an unprecedented expansion in channels for potential migrants to reach the United States legally. These include a phone app that allows migrants in Mexico to schedule appointments to be processed at official border crossings and a program that allows some migrants to fly to the U.S. if they have American sponsors.
After reaching record levels in December, migrant crossings along the southern border fell more than 40% this year. In April, illegal crossings declined to approximately 129,000, the second monthly drop in a row, according to internal Border Patrol data obtained by CBS News.
U.S. officials say the dramatic drop in migration stems from increased deportations and Mexico’s intensified efforts to stop migrants from reaching the U.S. border. Texas state officials also attributed the decline in crossings to their actions, including the miles of barbed wire they installed along stretches of the border.
Camilo Montoya-Gálvez
