New, strict policy measures from the Biden administration following the lifting of Title 42 will go into effect this week.
Migrants who pass through another country will be largely barred from seeking asylum in the US. The rule, proposed earlier this year, will presume migrants are ineligible for asylum in the US if they didn’t first seek refuge in a country they transited through, like Mexico, on the way to the border. Migrants who secure an appointment through the CBP One app will be exempt, according to officials.
If migrants are found ineligible for asylum, they could be removed through the speedy deportation process, known as “expedited removal,” that would bar them from the US for five years.
The administration also plans to return Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians and Nicaraguans to Mexico if they cross the border unlawfully, marking the first time the US has sent non-Mexican nationals back across the border.
The new asylum rule is already facing a legal challenge as the ACLU and other immigrant advocacy groups filed a lawsuit overnight Thursday in an effort to block the policy.
“The Biden administration’s new ban places vulnerable asylum seekers in grave danger and violates U.S. asylum laws. We’ve been down this road before with Trump,” said Katrina Eiland, managing attorney with the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project, in a statement. “The asylum bans were cruel and illegal then, and nothing has changed now.”
Senior administration officials have stressed the actions are necessary to encourage people to use lawful pathways to come to the US. That includes parole programs for eligible nationalities to apply to enter the US and expanding access to an app for migrants to make an appointment to present themselves at a port of entry.
The advocates’ lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Northern District of California, cites issues with the CBP One app used for scheduling asylum appointments, including some migrants’ lack of resources to get a smartphone and the absence of adequate internet access to use the app, along with language and literacy barriers.
The State Department plans to open about 100 regional processing centers in the Western hemisphere where migrants can apply to come to the US, though the timeline for those is unclear.
