The Biden administration has bowed to reality and is proposing to radically alter asylum policies at the border. On February 21, without much fanfare or notice, the Biden administration proposed a rule that endorses the Trump administration policy regarding asylum seekers at the border.
If enacted, no longer would asylum seekers automatically be admitted to the U.S. The new rule would deny asylum to anyone who crosses the southern border without authorization after traveling through a third country on their way to the U.S. Trump was called a “monster” for trying to enact this rule, even though the third-country requirement is consistent with U.S. law. It just had never been used before.
Biden has finally embraced reality at the border. The rule won’t stop people from trying to enter the country illegally, but now, asylum seekers will have to seek permission to cross the border at specific points.
“Electoral politics trump values when it comes to access to asylum. The desire to keep the border quiet resulted in compromising what I previously thought were deeply held Democratic beliefs,” a Biden official told the Los Angeles Times. “The Democrats have lost the ability to, with a straight face, criticize Trump or the next Republican administration’s approach on immigration.”
Homeland Security officials want migrants to schedule appointments with border officials at a port of entry or seek another legal pathway, rather than crossing the border. The new policy will be in place for two years when finalized.
The proposal essentially makes the place where migrants apply for asylum more important than the merits of their claims, said Stephanie Leutert, the director of the Central America and Mexico Policy Initiative at University of Texas Austin and a former Biden administration official who served in the State Department.
“To make that even clearer, you may have fled thousands of miles but those last steps— at a paved port of entry, on desert dirt, or on the Rio Grande’s muddy bottom — are now what is determining your protection claim in the United States,” she said.
“Asylum at the border no longer exists as we previously thought of it,” a Biden administration official told the Times. Another Biden official agreed, explaining that “the state of asylum is badly damaged.”
Automatic grants of asylum at the border with little vetting are dangerous and outmoded policies. The world has changed, and the refusal to acknowledge that fact has already cost American lives.
Government officials have defended the proposed rule by explaining that it is not a categorical ban. The officials also point to programs that allow migrants from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti to seek entry to the U.S. if they have a financial sponsor. Another process allows those who cross without authorization to “rebut” the presumption that they are ineligible for asylum in certain cases, like if they have a medical emergency.
Administration officials who spoke with the media last week said they would not allow disorder or chaos on the border and that the policy was not their first preference. The asylum system has been in crisis for years: Backlogs of claims have grown exponentially and Congress has no clear solutions. Biden has repeatedly called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform.
We can’t be the policeman of the world. We can’t continue to expend our blood and treasure and mount our white charger to do battle for truth, justice, and the American way.
Nor can we be the savior of the Western hemisphere as millions of asylum seekers, fleeing violence, persecution, wife-beating husbands, and poverty would seek entry into the United States. Flinging the door open and inviting everyone in might make us feel good, but the price is too high. A 19th-century immigration policy isn’t good enough anymore.
The new rule will be challenged in court, but could be allowed to go forward until the case is resolved by the Supreme Court.
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