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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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What's New
On his way out of the White House, President Joe Biden decided to further curb crossings at the United States-Mexico border by announcing stricter asylum rules Tuesday.
The new rules finalize restrictions on deciding asylum eligibility and enable immigration officers to decide on cases during initial interviews, which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) argued would "enhance operational flexibility" and allow swifter removals on those found ineligible for asylum, particularly national security risks.
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Immigration advocacy groups read the announcement as another block for those fleeing unsafe conditions in their home countries.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email Tuesday afternoon.
Why It Matters
The bars on admission come alongside an effective asylum ban, which put a cap on southwest border crossings in June. Immigration advocacy groups said the update rules could make it harder for those arriving in the U.S. to claim asylum than it already was, after a cap on admissions in June.
One immigration advocate told Newsweek that the incoming Trump administration could exploit the policy to enable deportations of those who should have a legal right to stay.
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What To Know
The Biden administration initially criticized Trump-era policies that banned granting asylum at initial immigration interviews, saying that this made screenings less efficient and didn't allow officers to carry out due process. In May 2023, similar restrictions were brought back following a year of high illegal border crossing numbers.
A cap of 2,500 daily crossings was introduced in June 2024, effectively halting all asylum case processing as immigrant numbers at the border were much higher. That number was reduced to 1,500 in September.
While bars on asylum eligibility were already written in law, Tuesday's final rule gives immigration officers the power to decide on asylum cases during an initial interview at the U.S.-Mexico border without legal aid for the applicant present. However, officers are expected to use discretion when applying the new rules.
"We're very concerned that people who are innocent of any kind of wrongdoing are going to be delivered back into the hands of repressive governments and other human rights offenders," Eleanor Acer, senior director for refugee protection Human Rights First, told Newsweek Tuesday.
"This will certainly be used by the next administration to fuel its deportation without due process because what the expedited removal process does is deny people access to hearings and undermine their access to legal counsel. You'll have people actually denied the right to even have a hearing now on life-or-death asylum cases."
DHS argued in its final rule document that those with genuine fear cases, where they could face persecution, torture or death if they returned to their home country, will still likely be granted asylum.
The department said migrant criminals would be less likely to enter the country if they are denied entry on arrival rather than being allowed in pending a hearing.
What People Are Saying
Eleanor Acer told Newsweek: "What the asylum bans do is rig expedited removal process by elevating the credible fear standard, and making it unduly high, and as a result, people with legitimate asylum claims are being denied the right to have an asylum hearing and returned to the hands of their persecutors."
NumbersUSA Research Director Eric Ruark, in a statement to Newsweek: "Raising the credible fear bar is essential to returning integrity to the asylum system. The Biden administration lowered it to the point where simply uttering the words allowed inadmissible aliens to be released from into the interior of the U.S. Allowing asylum officers to return inadmissible aliens who clearly have no valid credible fear claim will undo much of the damage done the last four years."
Keren Zwick, the National Immigrant Justice Center's (NIJC) litigation director, said in a press release: "These changes are unnecessary and they are further evidence of the U.S. government's outright abandonment of our obligations to provide protection to those seeking asylum. This rule violates current U.S. and international laws and will endanger the lives of individuals by returning them to the violence that they are fleeing. The United States should be a model of protecting people's rights."
DHS said in a press release: "This rule is another step in DHS's ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of the American public. This includes: working with foreign partners to identify individuals of concern at the earliest point in their travels and prevent that travel before they arrive at our borders; strengthening our screening and vetting processes in partnership with our interagency and law enforcement partners to identify individuals of concern and take appropriate action, including denying entry or placing them in detention; and expanding the tools we have to prevent the release of individuals who pose a national security or public safety threat and to obtain removal orders for those individuals, including ensuring that immigration judges are provided with relevant classified information."
What's Next
The final rule is set to take effect on January 17, 2025, three days before President-elect Trump's inauguration.
Immigration advocacy groups, including the National Immigration Justice Center, Human Rights First, and the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies, said they plan to challenge the order.
Update 12/18/24, 10:48 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.
Update 12/18/24 12:29 p.m. ET: This article was updated for clarity.
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