Liam Conner
The Biden administration on Thursday announced an effort to reduce the time it takes U.S. immigration judges to decide asylum cases for certain migrants who enter the country illegally along the border with Mexico.
Migrant adults released by federal border authorities after crossing illegally into the U.S. will be eligible to be placed in the program under a joint initiative between the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, which oversees the nation’s immigration courts.
The goal of the effort, senior U.S. officials said, is to speed up the process of granting asylum to migrants with legitimate cases and reject weak cases. Federal officials under Republican and Democratic administrations have said the current years-long timeframe for deciding asylum cases serves as a “pull factor” that attracts the migration of economic migrants, who do not qualify for humanitarian protection but who often use the system. asylum to work in the USA
In recent years, the number of cases received by immigration courts has increased, leading to wait times that often exceed four years. Less than 800 immigration judges are supervising more than 3.5 million unsolved cases.
Single migrant adults who plan to live in five major U.S. cities — Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York — could be selected for the new process, which will instruct immigration judges to issue decisions within 180 days, rather than of years.
Since the Obama administration, the US has created several similar programs, colloquially known as “rocket dockets”. While authorities have portrayed them as ways to discourage illegal immigration, advocates have said the rockets trample migrants’ due process, making it harder for them to get lawyers in time for their hearings.
The scope of Thursday’s announcement was not immediately clear, as U.S. officials declined to provide an estimate of the number of migrants who would be placed in the expedited process. Ten judges have been assigned to the program, one of the officials said during a call with reporters.
The latest rocket docket is the latest measure taken by the Biden administration to reduce illegal border crossingswhich increased last year to record levels. Last week, the Biden administration published a proposed rule This would allow immigration authorities to more quickly reject and deport asylum-seeking migrants who are considered a threat to public safety or national security.
Last year, the administration implemented a regulation that presumes migrants are ineligible for asylum in the U.S. if they enter the country illegally after not seeking refuge in another country. It combined this policy with a vast expansion of pathways for some potential migrants to enter the United States legally.
President Biden, who has increasingly adopted more restrictive border policies, has also considered a more sweeping measure that would further restrict asylum for those entering the US illegally. The measure, which would rely on a presidential authority known as 212(f), would almost certainly face legal challenges.
Administration officials have argued they are exploring unilateral immigration actions due to the collapse of a border security agreement the White House forged with a bipartisan group of senators earlier this year. Although the agreement severely restricted asylum and increased deportations without legalizing unauthorized immigrants, most Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, categorically rejected it.
“This administrative measure does not replace the comprehensive and much-needed changes that the bipartisan Senate bill would bring, but in the absence of congressional action, we will do what we can to enforce the law most effectively and discourage irregular migration,” he said. Internal security. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement Thursday.
The Biden administration has faced unprecedented levels of migration along the southern border, including more than two million migrant apprehensions in each of the last two years.
HERIKA MARTINEZ/AFP via Getty Images
In recent months, however, migrant crossings dived, contrary to historical patterns that saw migration spike in the spring. Last month, the Border Patrol recorded nearly 129,000 migrant apprehensions, down from 137,000 in March, according to government data. US authorities have credited the increase in deportations and a crackdown on immigration by Mexico for the surprising drop.
Camilo Montoya-Gálvez
