A new rule from the Biden Administration has sharply limited the number of migrants who can legitimately claim asylum after crossing the southern border, according to reporting from the Los Angeles Times.
The new rules will disallow any migrants from eligibility for an asylum claim if they crossed from a third country without first seeking protections in that country, the LA Times reported Tuesday based on government records.
Many of the migrants claiming asylum in Maine have said they arrived in the U.S. after entering Brazil and traveling north to the U.S.-Mexico border, which would mean he new policy would most likely apply to them.
The policy is similar to rules imposed by the Trump administration, though the Biden administration appears to be allowing more exceptions to rule.
From LA Times:
Under the new rules, people who cross through a third country on the way to the U.S. and fail to seek protections there are presumed ineligible for asylum. Only people who enter the U.S. without authorization are subject to this new restriction.
The number of single-adult migrants who are able to pass initial screenings at the border has dropped from 83% to 46% under the new policy, the Biden administration said in the court filing. The 83% rate refers to initial asylum screenings between 2014 and 2019; the new data cover the period from May 12, the first full day the new policy was in place, through June 13…
The numbers show that, thus far, 8,195 asylum-seekers who crossed the border have had the new rules applied to them and 88% had the policy limit their chance at asylum. These migrants were forced to pass a higher standard of screening reserved for different forms of protection under U.S. law. Some 46% of migrants who were forced to go through the new approach either cleared the higher standard or established an exception to the rule, like a medical emergency.
Individuals who are excluded from the asylum system may still press their claims in an immigration court, the LA Times reported.
