March 27, 2023, 10:10 PM
March 27, 2023, 10:10 PM
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on Monday urged the United States government to not to impose a rule that would restrict the access of thousands of people to asylum on the border with Mexico.
The rule, introduced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in February and now undergoing public review, would prevent those who have crossed through a third country and have not applied for protection there, obtain it later in the United States.
“As it stands, the regulations would restrict the fundamental human right to seek asylum,” UNHCR said in a statement.
If implemented, the agency highlighted, the regulations could lead to people being returned to situations where their lives and safety are at risk, “something that is prohibited under international law.”
The intention of the Administration of President Joe Biden to impose this restriction on the border has raised criticism from both legislators as well as other organizations in defense of human rights.
Influential Democratic Senator Bob Menéndez, along with three other congressmen, asked the government in February to reverse its plans.
If the rule now questioned enters into force, it would be one of the most restrictive immigration measures throughout Biden’s term, who promised during his campaign to revoke the restrictive policies of the Donald Trump administration (2017-2021).
The intention of the White House with this rule is to “fill the legal vacuum” that will arise after the possible end next May of Title 42, a health regulation that allows the hot returns of migrants at the border.
Title 42 is part of the Public Health Act of 1944 and authorizes, temporarily, the expulsion of foreigners for health reasons.
The government of the then Republican President Trump resorted to that rule in March 2020, at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic, and Biden has decided to extend and expand it in several times when he was about to expire.
However, with the pandemic now over, the Democratic Executive has indicated that it will lift Title 42 on May 11, when
the health emergency declared by the coronavirus ends.
