Under Biden's border change, fewer migrants will be released into the US or examined for asylum

President Biden’s move The partial suspension of asylum processing at the southern border has led to a dramatic decline in the number of migrants released into the U.S. or assessed for humanitarian protection, according to official government statistics.

In early June, citing the record number of illegal border crossings in recent years, Biden invoked a sweeping executive power to strip most migrants of their right to asylum in the United States, making it easier for immigration authorities to enter the country illegally.

A months-long downward trend in unauthorized border crossings accelerated after Biden's order took effect. In July, the number of migrants crossing the southern border illegally between official points of entry increased crashed to 56,400, the lowest level in nearly four years, according to federal statistics. U.S. authorities also attribute the sharp decline to rising summer temperatures and a tough crackdown by Mexican authorities on migrants traveling north.

Recently released government figures show that Biden's tough approach to asylum – the most restrictive of any Democratic president – ​​has led to radical changes in the treatment of migrants at the US-Mexico border.

Collapse in the release of migrants

One of the most important changes is the sharp decline in the number of migrants released by border police. This practice is perceived by US authorities as a “pull factor” for immigration. Those released can usually stay in the US for years, regardless of the validity of their asylum claim, because immigration courts are struggling with a backlog of millions of cases.

In July, Border Patrol released 12,000 migrants with immigration court summonses, compared to 28,000 in June and 62,000 in May, before Biden's asylum changes, according to Customs and Border Protection data. In December 2023, while a record-breaking increase In the area of ​​migration, the border patrol released 192,000 migrants by court order.

The sharp drop in releases coincided with a significant increase in the percentage of migrants placed in “expedited removal proceedings,” which allow officials to quickly deport migrants who have recently crossed the border but do not apply for asylum or fail asylum interviews.

In the months before Biden's move to drastically restrict asylum, only a quarter or fewer of all migrants apprehended by Border Patrol were placed in expedited removal proceedings. The main reason for this was that the government did not have the resources and personnel to detain and screen all migrants who entered the United States illegally.

In July, nearly 28,000, or about 50 percent, of the 56,000 migrants the Border Patrol apprehended that month were approved for expedited removal, agency figures show. That's up from 43 percent in June and 25 percent in May, the data show.

Since Biden's partial ban on asylum applications took effect, more than 100,000 migrants have been deported or sent back to Mexico or their home countries, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Access to asylum is severely restricted

Under U.S. and international law, asylum is intended to provide legal protection to foreign nationals fleeing persecution for specific reasons, such as their political views, religion, or membership in a social group. Poverty is not a reason for asylum.

If migrants placed in expedited removal proceedings say they fear persecution if deported, they must undergo what is known as a “credible fear” screening by an asylum officer. If they pass these interviews, they are allowed to apply for asylum before an immigration judge. If they fail, they can generally be deported.

Since Biden's partial asylum ban, far fewer migrants are being screened by U.S. asylum officials. That's because the rules that implemented Biden's order in June not only barred most migrants from asylum, but also made another important change.

Those rules instructed immigration officials to stop asking migrants before deporting them whether they fear harm, a question they were supposed to ask before Biden's order. Under the new process, only migrants who affirmatively testify to their fear of harm will be referred for asylum screening.

After the change, the proportion of migrants found to be fearful of persecution under expedited removal proceedings fell to 24% from an average of 55% before Biden's asylum measures, according to a statement Friday in federal court by Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Border and Immigration Policy Royce Murray.

In the four months before Biden's order, U.S. asylum officials received between 17,000 and 20,000 referrals per month to screen migrants. That number dropped to 7,100 in June and 1,900 in July, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services figures.

Even if migrants are invited to interview an asylum officer, the new rules will make it more difficult to pass these checks. Migrants are usually only screened for more limited forms of humanitarian protection, which – unlike asylum – do not offer recipients a path to permanent legal status.

Officials warn of influx if order is lifted

Biden's asylum order contains some exceptions. For example, it does not apply to unaccompanied children, who must be placed in government shelters under US law, or to migrants who use a phone app to get an appointment to process their application at an official port of entry.

In July, the U.S. processed more than 38,000 migrants who had secured appointments through that app, known as CBP One, federal data show. After a security screening, these migrants are typically allowed to enter the U.S. to apply for work authorization while their cases are reviewed by courts.

The Biden administration's crackdown on asylum seekers has said it would end if the seven-day average of illegal border crossings falls to 1,500. Although the average has approached that threshold, border crossings appeared to have stagnated in August, internal federal figures show.

Biden’s executive action also risks being rejected in federal court. The American Civil Liberties Union and other immigrant rights groups have a lawsuit that the rule violates U.S. asylum law, arguing that it is consistent with a Trump-era policy that has been declared illegal by courts.

The Justice Department warned in a legal memo Friday opposing the ACLU's lawsuit that internal projections suggest that if the crackdown on asylum seekers is stopped, the number of illegal border crossings per day will rise to between 3,400 and 6,900 in the coming months, up from an average of just 1,800 in July.

Notably, Texas, which has filed suit against virtually every major immigration policy of the Biden administration, is seeking to intervene in the ACLU's case and defend Biden's crackdown on asylum seekers, calling his actions “reasonable” in a legal memo Friday.

On Friday, White House spokesman Angelo Fernandez Hernandez attributed the significant decline in migrant crossings to the president's “decisive action.”

But migrant rights activists say Biden's policies are having devastating consequences for migrants. Christina Asencio, research director at the advocacy group Human Rights First, said she has documented cases in which asylum seekers have been deported from the United States without being given a chance to present their case.

“I would ask, what does working mean? Does working mean summarily deporting someone without access to due process and without access to the fear tests required by law? Does working mean detaining them in Mexico?” Asencio asked.