Biden proposal would expedite deportation of migrants ineligible for asylum

Amna Nawaz:

The Biden administration proposed a change to the U.S. asylum system today that would expedite the removal of certain migrants. The regulation under consideration would apply to migrants with criminal histories or deemed as national security risks who would be unlikely to receive asylum.

Following all of this is our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez.

Laura, you spoke with some Homeland Security Department officials earlier today who briefed you on this change. What did they share with you about the plan?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

So, a senior DHS official essentially said that this change allows asylum officers to take into consideration if they think that a migrant may be a threat to public safety, a threat to national security at an earlier stage of that asylum process than is previously allowed under the law.

Currently, under the law, asylum — currently, in the asylum process, those potential threats are taken into consideration when they're deciding — when the government is deciding whether or not a migrant can be granted asylum. But it's typically when they're in court facing a judge, have a lawyer by their side.

This makes it so that would be possible during the credible fear interview stage, which happens within the first one to two days of a migrant arriving. So that's the big change here, Amna, is to the timeline.

Amna Nawaz:

So, do any of the measures or proposals announced today, do they have any impact on the southern border right now?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

So, that proposed rule won't have an immediate impact, because it's a proposal.

And so, of course, it has to go through the process that all regulations have to go through. But the DHS official who spoke to reporters today said that the administration believes that they will go through this regulation, the process, expeditiously, that it could very well be finalized before the November election.

And one other thing, though, that the Homeland Security Department announced today that would take effect immediately,

Amna, is new guidance that was issued to asylum officers, a revised guidance that says that, during, again, that credible fear interview, which happens within the first few days of a migrant arriving and whether or not they're determining if they are granted asylum, during that interview, asylum officers can now try to figure out whether or not those migrants can be relocated internally to the country that they came from safely, and if they can safely return to the country that they're from and live there and not fear violence or retribution.

And that's something that initially was not something that asylum officers did that early in the stage. So that's something that is going to have an immediate effect.

One thing I want to say, though, about that proposed regulation, Amna, and when it does take effect, is that the experts that I spoke to said that it may only impact a small number of migrants. The DHS official did not want to tell us an exact estimate of how many migrants it would impact, but the legal immigration experts that I spoke to said that it would be a small percentage.

Amna Nawaz:

So what about the timing of all of this, Laura? What does your reporting show you about why the Biden administration would propose these changes now?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

As we both reported, Amna, President Biden has been considering unilateral actions because of the fact that his efforts to negotiate with Congress, to seek out a bipartisan border agreement totally failed because Republicans killed it, despite the fact that he was trying to sign on to one of the most conservative bills that they have considered in decades.

And so the DHS senior official told us today that they're clear-eyed about executive actions. They know that they don't solve all the problems, but because there has been no action in Congress, they felt that they needed to take this step. And they are also consistently reviewing other steps that they could potentially take in the coming months.

Now, of course, Amna, another factor here is that it is an election year. And President Biden has been facing a lot of pressure, not just from Republicans, but from also Democrats within his own party, to take more actions on the border.

Amna Nawaz:

So what is the reality on the ground at the U.S. southern border right now? What are the facts on the ground we know?

Laura Barron-Lopez:

So, what we have seen actually in recent months, there was an increase at the end of last year in terms of the number of migrants encountered between ports of entry at the border.

But there has been a decline in apprehensions at the Southwest border. So, when you start in December, there was more than 200,000 apprehensions at the southern border. January, that dropped to more than 124,000, and then, in February, 140,000, a slight increase there from January. But again it dipped in March, which is the month that we have the most recent data for from Customs and Border Protection to 137,000, Amna.

And the administration largely credits actions taken by allies, taken by the Mexican government to crack down on immigration as well, for that dip in numbers.

Amna Nawaz:

All right, our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, reporting on an issue still top of mind for many voters this year.

Laura, thank you.

Laura Barron-Lopez:

Thank you.