On Thursday, the Biden administration disclosed its intention to expedite the process by which immigration judges in the United States determine the asylum cases of specific migrants who illegally enter the country along the Mexican frontier.
Under a joint initiative between the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, which supervises the nation’s immigration courts, migrant adults who are released by federal border officials after unlawfully entering the United States will be eligible for enrollment in the program.
Senior U.S. officials stated that the objective of the initiative is to expedite the process of granting asylum to migrants with legitimate claims and rejecting those with weaker cases. The current years-long timeframe to decide asylum cases has been described by federal officials under both Republican and Democratic administrations as a “pull factor” that attracts migration by economic migrants. These migrants, who do not qualify for humanitarian protection, frequently utilize the asylum system to work in the United States.
The immigration courts have experienced a significant increase in the number of cases they have received in recent years, resulting in wait times that frequently exceed four years. Fewer than 800 immigration judges are overseeing more than 3.5 million unresolved cases.
Single migrant adults who intend to reside in five major U.S. cities—Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City—may be chosen for the new process. This process will require immigration judges to render decisions within 180 days, rather than years.
The United States has implemented numerous comparable initiatives, which are commonly referred to as “rocket dockets,” since the Obama administration. Advocates contend that the rocket dockets violate migrants’ due process by complicating their ability to obtain attorneys in time for their proceedings, despite the fact that officials have characterized them as a measure to discourage illegal immigration.
U.S. officials declined to provide an estimate of the number of migrants who would be placed in the fast-track proceedings, which was why the scope of Thursday’s announcement was not immediately obvious. One of the officials disclosed during a conference call with reporters that the program has been designated ten judges.
The Biden administration’s most recent action to stop illegal border crossings, which increased to record levels last year, is the latest rocket docket. Last week, the Biden administration published a proposed rule that would allow immigration officials to more quickly reject and deport asylum-seeking migrants who are deemed to endanger public safety or national security.
The administration implemented a regulation last year that presupposes that migrants are ineligible for U.S. asylum if they enter the country illegally after failing to request refuge in another country. It combined that policy with a significant increase in the number of legal pathways for certain types of potential migrants to enter the United States.
President Biden, who has been adopting more restrictive border policies, has also been contemplating a more extensive measure that would further restrict asylum for individuals who enter the United States unlawfully. The action, which would be contingent upon the presidential authority known as 212(f), would almost undoubtedly encounter legal obstacles.
Administration officials have argued they are exploring unilateral immigration actions due to the collapse of a border security agreement that the White House forged with a bipartisan group of senators earlier this year. The majority of Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, rejected the agreement unequivocally, despite the fact that it would have significantly restricted asylum and increased deportations without legalizing unauthorized immigrants.
“In the absence of congressional action, we will do what we can to most effectively enforce the law and discourage irregular migration,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas stated in a statement on Thursday. “This administrative step is no substitute for the sweeping and much-needed changes that the bipartisan Senate bill would deliver.”
In the past two years, the Biden administration has encountered unprecedented levels of migration along the southern frontier, with over two million migrant apprehensions.
In recent months, however, migrant crossings have plunged, bucking historical patterns that have seen migration soar in the spring. Last month, Border Patrol recorded nearly 129,000 migrant apprehensions, down from 137,000 in March, according to government data. U.S. officials have credited increased deportations and an immigration crackdown by Mexico for the surprising drop.
