by Jennie Taer
The Biden administration is considering imposing a roughly five-month asylum ban to curb illegal immigration ahead of an expected surge in migrants crossing the border, Axios reported Tuesday.
The proposal, which applies to families and single adults, would only grant asylum eligibility to those who applied for legal entry into the US, first sought protection in a country on the way to the U.S., scheduled a meeting with border authorities at a port of entry or have dire circumstances, according to Axios. The Biden administration is considering the plan amid a record influx of illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, where federal authorities encountered more than 2.3 million migrants in fiscal year 2022, and ahead of the expected end of Title 42, a major border expulsion policy.
The asylum process currently allows migrants who illegally cross the border into the U.S. to make a claim of fear and remain in the country to await adjudication, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The situation at the southern border is only expected to worsen with the expected end of the Title 42 public health expulsion order, which the Trump administration invoked to address the COVID-19 pandemic by quickly expelling certain illegal immigrants, on Dec. 21, former Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott recently told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Title 42 is responsible for the expulsion of over one million illegal migrants in fiscal year 2022, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The Administration is committed to continuing to secure our borders while maintaining safe, orderly and humane processing of migrants. This will remain the case when Title 42 is lifted. Reports that indicate U.S. policy will change are inaccurate; no such decisions have been made
— Karine Jean-Pierre (@PressSec) December 2, 2022
Areas of the border like El Paso, Texas, have already started to see increases in illegal migrant encounters, reporting nearly 2,500 a day. Across the southern border, encounters could reach 14,000 per day with Title 42’s expiration, according to Axios.
Neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) responded to requests for comment.
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Jennie Taer is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.Â
