Dems to Biden Admin: New Asylum Rules Put Migrants in Predicament

A group of 18 House Democrats wrote to the Biden administration on Tuesday, according to a letter circulated exclusively by The Hill. In their letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Ur Jaddou, the Democrats said that the Biden administration's new asylum rule, which rolled out last week, would place undue stress on migrants presenting "legally and factually complex arguments" to be granted asylum privileges while they are awaiting their asylum cases to be heard.

"Allowing the consideration of mandatory bars to asylum during initial asylum screening interviews will force asylum seekers to present legally and factually complex arguments explaining the life-threatening harms they are fleeing shortly after enduring a long, traumatic journey and while being held in immigration detention and essentially cut off from legal help," the lawmakers, led by Illinois Democrat Reps. Delia Ramirez and Jesús "Chuy" García, wrote.

On June 4, the White House unveiled an executive order signed by President Joe Biden that would "bar migrants who cross our southern border unlawfully from receiving asylum."

"Through this process," the White House claimed, the Department of Justice will be able to hear "asylum" cases more quickly and the Department of Homeland Security will be able to more quickly remove individuals who do not have a legal basis to remain in the United States and grant protection to those with valid claims.

The Democrats' letter comes amid an election year as they seek to quell criticism over their inaction on the border while doubling down on the conflation that asylum seekers encompass the mass of the migrant surge.

"When things start boiling to such a point that we've reached this moment, instead of actually seeking solutions, we're trying to be responsive, and the Republicans have done an incredible job at putting up videos and sending influencers to the border, and using every tactic they can to attack us," Ramirez said.

"And instead of us responding from a place of values but also from a place of solutions, we've now reacted in such way that it almost feels like we've been apologizing for the issue instead of actually addressing it, which is why we're here now. Which was why you're hearing some Democrats say things that I would never have imagined."

Ramirez went on to contend that among the migrants who would rightfully be seeking asylum, some, due in part to the politicization of the issue, would unduly be barred entry into the U.S. despite their asylum claims being legitimate.

The Department of Homeland Secuirty's ability to conduct oversight of its screening officers is "based on the individual discretion of the officers, who in some cases are very biased by the political reality that we're in right now," she said.

"It's absolutely crazy to me that that's what we're using. And what is really going to happen is we're going to be fast-tracking these legal decisions, and it's going to mean that we're going to increase wrongful deportations. We're going to be violating people's obligations under international law to be able to seek asylum in this country."