The Biden administration is set to extend an asylum ban at the US-Mexico border, aiming to maintain stricter controls on illegal crossings, according to US Department of Homeland Security officials. The update, which takes effect shortly after midnight, will keep asylum restrictions in place until the daily average of illegal migrant arrests drops below 1,500 over a 28-day period, extending the current seven-day requirement. This move signals a continued effort to reduce the number of illegal crossings.
President Joe Biden, a Democrat, introduced the asylum ban in June to address the record numbers of migrants caught crossing illegally. With immigration being a key issue ahead of the November 5 election, where Vice-President Kamala Harris faces off against Republican Donald Trump, who is known for his hardline stance on immigration, the administration is keen to show its commitment to border control. Harris reportedly supports making the ban even more stringent, but the Biden administration has not adopted her proposal.
US border authorities have apprehended around 54,000 migrants so far in September, a significant drop from the peak of 250,000 in December. A daily average of 1,500 over 28 days would amount to 42,000 migrants within that timeframe. The revised asylum ban now includes all unaccompanied children caught crossing illegally in the tally used to determine whether the restrictions can be lifted, unlike before when only children from Mexico and Canada were counted.
This stricter approach is designed to ensure that the decline in encounters represents a sustained decrease rather than short-term fluctuations, according to a DHS official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Immigrant rights groups, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, have filed lawsuits against the asylum ban, arguing that it contravenes US asylum law and closely mirrors a Trump-era ban that was blocked by the courts.
