Immigration Experts: Biden Asylum Loopholes Problematic

(Gregory Bull/AP)

Some immigration experts say the loopholes in President Joe Biden’s asylum ban could be problematic, the Washington Examiner reported Thursday.

Biden on Tuesday unveiled a halt to asylum processing at the southern border with Mexico when illegal entries reach a threshold that he deems excessive.

The measure takes effect immediately because the new policy is triggered when arrests for illegal entry reach 2,500. About 4,000 people already are entering the U.S. a day. It was a major policy shift on a crucial election-year issue that has exposed Biden to Republican criticism over an unprecedented surge in new arrivals.

Legal challenges are imminent.

James Massa, the CEO for Numbers USA, the nation’s largest grassroots immigration-reduction organization, told the Examiner that Biden’s proclamation “provides no operational relief to DHS [Department of Homeland Security], does nothing to deter any illegal border crosser, and is simply a political gambit.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said exceptions to the ban, which include “unaccompanied children, victims of a severe form of trafficking, [and] those who face an acute medical emergency or an imminent and extreme threat to life and safety” could “very well encourage more illegal immigration at non-ports of entry and further exploitation of unaccompanied children, who are exempted from the order entirely.”

Kennji Kizuka, asylum policy director for the International Rescue Committee, which provides refugees with practical services such as health care, nutrition, English learning, legal services, housing and more, said the order leaves asylum seekers in “legal limbo.”

“Measures that have attempted to deter migration at the U.S.-Mexico border … have not stopped people fleeing their homes from trying to seek safety and, in fact, fueled repeat crossing attempts to seek refuge,” Kizuka said. “Drastic changes in border policies also create fertile ground for misunderstanding and misinformation, which puts people who are already in need of protection at risk of human trafficking, kidnappings, exploitation, and other dangers.”

Added Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.: “This asylum ban will fail to address the challenges at our border, just as it did under the Trump administration. It will lead to people with legitimate asylum claims being prevented from seeking safety and returned to harm.”