HIDALGO, Texas ( Border Report )— Under a blistering 102- level sunlight on Wednesday, U. S. Border Patrol agents apprehended six women and young children in a filthy place near the border wall that is common for illegal border crossings.
These immigrants must tell agents that they fear returning to their home countries, or meet other stringent requirements in order to be interviewed for a credible fear interview and be considered for U.S. asylum, according to the new executive order signed by President Joe Biden on Tuesday. Otherwise, they face removal, detention or deportation.
A Border Patrol agent confirmed to Border Report that the women, two young girls, and a small infant would be processed at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection processing facility, but he would not provide further information.
The new asylum rule, according to migrants ‘ advocates, is in effect an “asylum ban” and raises too high a bar and will exclude many.
Under the new rules, migrants also will be considered for asylum if they are unaccompanied children, have an acute medical condition, or are victims of extreme forms of human trafficking.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, the new regulations” will better enable the Department to quickly remove individuals without a legal basis to remain in the United States, strengthen enforcement, and change the calculus for those considering crossing our border irregularly.”
When Biden announced the asylum changes, Norma Sepulveda, an immigration lawyer who also serves as mayor of Harlingen, a nearby South Texas border town, was one of the officials who was invited to the White House on Tuesday.
She expressed her gratitude to the immigration reform on Wednesday, telling Border Report that it would be better if it had an all-out ban on certain immigrants.
” What I did take away from it is that people will still be able to apply for and enter the United States through the CBP One app. And so those will continue and not be taken into account when calculating that total. And visitors to the United States will still be able to enter safely and legally, Sepulveda said.
If encounters between legal ports of entry along the Southwest border average 2,500 times in seven days, according to the order, asylum claims will be denied. And it wo n’t be repealed until there are 1,500 migrant encounters every day.
Because under the Immigration and Naturalization Act, anyone who arrives on American soil has a legal right to seek asylum, regardless of whether they are at a legal port of entry or not, according to Sepulveda, Congress needs to take action to permanently reform immigration laws.
Regardless of an alien’s status, “any alien who is physically present in the United States or who arrives in the country ( whether or not at a designated port of entry ) may apply for asylum.”
U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Act: 8USC 1158 ( a )
Sepulveda claims that the current form of the law encourages asylum seekers to enter the country irregularly, in between legitimate ports of entry.
People have known that the law allows asylum applications for years and years, or 20 to 30 years, for people who enter the country without being examined. Additionally, you were unable to apply for asylum in your home country. According to Sepulveda, entering the United States had to be done either at a port of entry or within the country. If you did, you would be deemed an arriving alien and subject to detention, It actually encouraged people to cross without being inspected and deterred people from visiting a port of entry.
” Biden’s trying to do his best to change that,” she said, adding that we need” congressive action that we need to remove that, and to really revamp our immigration laws.”
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at [email protected].
