The Government of Joe Biden confirmed that from May 31 a rule will begin to be applied that aims to speed up the processing of asylum requests from migrants requesting humanitarian protection along the southern border of the United States.
The measure will allow officials from the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) to consider the asylum applications of certain applicants subject to expedited deportation who have managed to establish a fear of persecution or torture in their countries of origin.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that “as we implement this transformative rule through a phased approach, we will reduce processing times and the backlog of years in immigration court.”
He added that people who qualify for asylum will receive protection “more quickly,” and those who don’t will be removed “quickly rather than remain in the United States for years while their cases are pending.”
people who qualify for asylum will receive protection “more quickly”, and those who do not qualify will be removed “quickly instead of staying in the United States for years”
The plan aims to reduce the average wait time for asylum seekers entering the southern border to receive a decision in their cases from five years to six months, and includes guidelines to put those people on hold for deportation. while awaiting the resolution of their cases.
The announcement a few days after the Louisiana judge, Robert Summerhays, prevented the Administration of President Joe Biden from finalizing Title 42, a rapid deportation measure against undocumented immigrants protected by the pandemic that was imposed in 2020, during the Government of Donald Trump (2017-2021).
Due to this measure, from the first day of May, the US has returned Cubans and Nicaraguans to Mexico. According to data from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE), of the 78,903 Cubans detained at the southern border between October 1, 2021 and March 31, only 737 were expelled to Mexico under Title 42.
In Tijuana, around 5,000 migrants They remain in the 25 shelters that exist, when in 2019 the figure did not reach 3,000. As of April, 1,275 had applied for refuge, according to figures from the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid.
The permanence of Title 42 has not prevented migrants from crossing the Rio Grande. border patrol reported the intercept of six groups of migrants and the arrest of 826 people, including several Cubans and children.
The last week, the Eagle Pass Border Patrol was overwhelmed by an avalanche of Cubans and migrants who managed to cross the Rio Grande through the border with the Mexican state of Coahuila, which increased the number of officers at the limits of the flow.
The permanence of Title 42 has not prevented migrants from crossing the Rio Grande. The Border Patrol reported the interception of six groups of migrants and the arrest of 826 people
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has said that the implementation will take place in a phased manner, starting with a small number of people in custody at two detention centers in Texas.
Only aliens placed in expedited removal proceedings after May 31, 2022 are potentially subject to the new process.
Initially, only asylum seekers who tell US border officials they plan to live near Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Newark or San Francisco will be eligible for the new program.
The implementation of the program was at risk of being blocked. Last Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked a federal judge to stop the application of the new rule while a lawsuit filed on April 28 against the measure proceeded, but the request was denied.
According to the lawsuit filed by Paxton, that policy violates the National Security Act, the Immigration Act and a provision in Article II of the US Constitution.
This has not been the only attempt to block the application of the measure. Republican senators tried on Thursday to approve a rejection resolution based on the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a process that allows the executive’s federal policies to be overthrown. But the Conservatives failed in the attempt by not achieving a majority.
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