United States – The Biden administration will deepen an asylum ban at the U.S.-Mexico border to keep it in place for a longer period, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials announced on Monday, as part of endeavoring to reduce the unauthorized border cross.
Extended Conditions for Lifting the Ban
The shift, which begins immediately after the clock strikes midnight, keeps asylum restrictions in place until the daily average of arrests of migrants crossing illegally, is reduced to a rate of 1,500 per day for 28 days, up from 7 from the current time, one of the official told reporters in a call.
An asylum ban was signed for President Joe Biden, a Democrat, to reduce the record number of migrants caught crossing the border without any legal document in June of this year. Citizenship has emerged as a leading vote driver as people prepare to vote in the presidential election slated for November 5, which features Kamala Harris of the Democratic party against Donald Trump from the Republicans, who are infamous for an extreme immigration policy, as reported by Reuters.
Harris supports making the ban even harder to unwind, as Reuters stated last week, although the Biden administration did not follow her suggestions.
Decline in Migrant Arrests
More than 54,000 migrants have been detained by US border forces in September, down significantly from the record of 250,000 in December, according to a DHS official.
A daily average of 1,500 for a month would amount to 42, 000 migrants for the whole month.
Under the changes in the asylum ban measures, all the children who attempted to cross the border without companions shall be included in the total figure used to determine whether the restrictions should be lifted or not. It changed the rules and formalities such that only children who were from Mexico or Canada were considered.
The former approach ‘helps guarantee that the decline of encounters is not isolated to the trends’ and is ‘prolonged,’ according to a DHS official who preferred to remain anonymous.
Legal Challenges to the Ban
Several immigrant rights organizations led by the American Civil Liberties Union have launched suits against the asylum ban, stating that the ban violates the United States asylum laws and is similar to Trump’s ban order, as reported by Reuters.