Coalition of Organizations Publishes Joint Analysis of President Biden’s Border Proclamation
A coalition of organizations–the American Civil Liberties Union, American Immigration Lawyers Association, National Immigrant Justice Center, National Immigration Project, and the Women’s Refugee Commission–have released an informative Joint Analysis of the President’s Border Proclamation.
The full Joint Analysis is available here.
The analysis contains four key take aways:
“The new policy will bar access to asylum for most people arriving between ports of entry when the number of apprehensions reaches a certain level. It imposes additional uncertainties and obstacles to asylum building upon existing restrictive policies already in place. The Rule flouts domestic asylum law and the United States’ obligations under the Refugee Convention, and will face immediate legal challenge in the courts.
Under the new policy, nearly everyone arriving at the southern border is deemed ineligible for asylum during periods of time when the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has determined there to be an average of more than 2,500 people entering between ports of entry per day over a seven day period. As of June 5, 2024 12:05 am EDT, DHS has already determined this trigger to have been reached. There are minimal exceptions to this new asylum ban, including people with CBP One appointments (of which 1,400 are granted per day), unaccompanied children, trafficking victims, and people who face life threatening emergencies.
When the new rule is in place—as it currently is—there will be extremely limited opportunities for people to seek screening for lesser protections known as “withholding of removal” or protection under the Convention Against Torture. Border officials will no longer ask arriving migrants if they are afraid to return to their country, meaning many people will be quickly deported despite their fear. Those who are determined to have expressed a fear will face newly heightened standards to access these limited protections which are far short of asylum, and do not provide a pathway to lawful residence or the ability to reunify with family members.
The Biden administration is claiming as its legal basis for this new rule section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), the same provision used by former President Trump to enact the Muslim and African Bans and an asylum ban quite similar to this one that was found unlawful by federal courts.”
IE