Biden is reportedly planning a massive asylum overhaul at the southern border
A new Biden administration immigration proposal could lower waiting periods for asylum seekers at the southern border by years, according to government documents obtained by Buzzfeed News. The updated process as outlined in the draft policy seeks to curb immigration court backlogs and expedite new claims.
A sharp "departure" from that of the Trump administration, which reportedly sought to "block" asylum protections, the new plan could "fundamentally change" border dynamics and become President Biden's "most consequential immigration policy to date," writes Buzzfeed.
To circumvent the pileup of more than a million immigration court cases, Biden's proposal shifts adjudication for new asylum claims from immigration judges to asylum officers, Buzzfeed reports. If an asylum seeker's claim is denied by an officer, the individual can appeal the decision in front of an immigration judge. A third appeal "would also be possible," Buzzfeed reports.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The current asylum processing system is "unfair" and "overwhelmed," per the draft policy, which adds that "a system that takes years to get to a result is not a working system." The goal of the new, proposed process is to replace "a broken system with a more efficient one, adjudicating asylum claims expeditiously without [compromising] fairness."
The new policy has yet to be finalized, with implementation, funding and scope still unclear. Read more at Buzzfeed News.
-
‘The economics of WhatsApp have been mysterious for years’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Will Democrats impeach Kristi Noem?Today’s Big Question Centrists, lefty activists also debate abolishing ICE
-
Is a social media ban for teens the answer?Talking Point Australia is leading the charge in banning social media for people under 16 — but there is lingering doubt as to the efficacy of such laws
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
-
Iran’s government rocked by protestsSpeed Read The death toll from protests sparked by the collapse of Iran’s currency has reached at least 19
-
Israel approves new West Bank settlementsSpeed Read The ‘Israeli onslaught has all but vanquished a free Palestinian existence in the West Bank’
-
US offers Ukraine NATO-like security pact, with caveatsSpeed Read The Trump administration has offered Ukraine security guarantees similar to those it would receive from NATO
-
Hong Kong court convicts democracy advocate LaiSpeed Read Former Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai was convicted in a landmark national security trial
