President Donald Trump went through with his pre-midterm election promise to crack down on undocumented immigrants crossing the border on Thursday when the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice announced a new rule which would make it more difficult for immigrants to claim asylum if they are found crossing the border between designated points of entry, according to NBC News.
Administration officials said Trump had the legal authority to create the rule due to portions of immigration law that permit the president to have authority over who is admitted into the United States, which was also utilized by the administration in crafting its travel ban in court.
DHS officials said the plan would force immigrants who wish to claim asylum to do so at a designated port of entry.
Many asylum-seekers have described facing days of waiting at ports of entry so they feel compelled to try and cross illegally.
"Consistent with our immigration laws, the President has the broad authority to suspend or restrict the entry of aliens into the United States if he determines it to be in the national interest to do so," Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker said in a joint statement.
Trump is expected to sign a presidential proclamation to finalize the rule on Friday morning.
Immigrants who cross between ports of entry will still be allowed to claim asylum, but due to previous changes by the Trump administration face a higher bar than "credible fear' of returning to their home test in order to qualify.
Officials said asylum-seekers will only be permitted to remain at large in the U.S. while waiting for a court hearing if they can prove "reasonable fear" or if they are protected under the United Nations' Convention against Torture.
But international law says asylum-seekers are permitted to make a claim regardless of where they enter the country.
The ACLU has already promised to sue the Trump administration over the rule.
"The proposal is patently unlawful and there will be a court challenge," said Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project.
Immigrant advocacy groups said the U.S. laws clearly extend asylum to anyone who reaches the U.S. and expresses a fear of persecution, no matter how they enter the country.
“Congress very specifically said you can apply for asylum if you arrive in the United States regardless of whether you’re at a port of entry,” said Omar Jadwat, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “They clearly and explicitly meant to make asylum available to anyone who reaches the United States.
Since 2014, a number of migrants have entered the U.S. and turned themselves into border patrol agents to claim asylum, with those figures increasing fourfold, an issue that's created a backlog of more than 750,000 cases in immigration court.
One senior Trump administration official said the rule change would allow the government to move asylum seekers to ports of entry, which have more personnel and resources to process the claims.
But due to the high number of asylum seekers, U.S. customs officers have already been limiting the number of people allowed to approach the pedestrian entry lanes, a move that's already been challenged in federal court.
-WN.com, Maureen Foody
Photo:
AP / Eduardo Verdugo
