Biden admin dismisses over 350K migrant asylum applications since 2022: report

As the White House finalizes plans for a crackdown between the U.S. and Mexico that would block asylum applications and automatically deny entry to migrants who meet the threshold, the Biden administration is reportedly continuing to allow hundreds of thousands of migrants to remain in the U.S. in what amounts to an amnesty.

More than 350,000 asylum applications filed by migrants have been rejected by the U.S. government since 2022 because the applicants did not have criminal records or were deemed not a threat to the United States, according to a report released last month by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a nonpartisan data-collection organization that tracks immigration cases and backlogs.

When a case is closed without a decision being made on the validity of an asylum claim, migrants are removed from the legal system and no longer have to report to authorities.

It also means that immigrants can go anywhere in the United States legally without fear of deportation.

Biden is said to be finalizing plans to restrict immigration as part of a crackdown on the US-Mexico border.

The New York Post reported that in a memo sent in 2022, Kelly Doyle, chief legal counsel for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), instructed the agency’s prosecutors to dismiss cases against immigrants who do not pose a threat to national security.

According to TRAC data, there were 173,227 asylum applications filed that year. Of those applications, immigration judges ordered 36,250 applicants removed from the U.S. and granted asylum to 31,859 applicants. The remaining 102,550 applications were reportedly denied or removed from the records.

In 2023, 248,232 refugee applications were filed, of which 52,440 received removal orders, 43,113 were recognized as refugees, and 149,305 were rejected or deregistered.

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People, mostly from West African countries, line up outside the former St. Brigid’s School to apply for shelter, in New York City, Dec. 7, 2023. There are currently about 66,000 asylum seekers in New York shelters, with Mayor Eric Adams saying he is “virtually singlehandedly managing a national migration crisis.” (CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images)

So far in 2024, there have been 175,193 refugee applications, with 113,843 rejected.

This figure is much higher than under the Trump administration, before the pandemic, in 2019, when there were 87,018 asylum applications, 52,223 were deported, 24,109 received relief and 4,746 applications were denied.

Once their cases are resolved, immigrants will no longer face deportation or removal proceedings, they will no longer be monitored by ICE and will no longer be required to leave the US.

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June 2, 2022: ICE agents conduct enforcement operations in the interior of the United States. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

Applicants whose applications are denied can reapply for asylum or seek other forms of legal status, such as family visas, work visas or even the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA).

The immigration court backlog is growing from 2.8 million cases at the end of fiscal year 2023 to nearly 3.6 million in fiscal year 2024, and immigration judges are unable to keep up with the current influx of new cases into the system.

According to the TRAC report, both the number of new cases filed this year and the number of cases completed by immigration judges are on pace to exceed previous records, but the pace of completion will not be enough to stem the growing backlog.

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TOPSHOT – U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas, on January 8, 2023. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

The president has been considering additional executive action since a bipartisan border bill collapsed earlier this year. Illegal crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have fallen for months, thanks in part to Mexico’s stepped-up efforts. Still, immigration remains a top concern heading into the November presidential election, and Republicans have been eager to attack Biden on the issue.

The Democratic administration’s efforts are aimed at preventing a possible surge in border crossings later this year, when cooler weather tends to increase numbers as the fall election approaches.Four people familiar with Biden’s plans were not authorized to speak publicly about ongoing discussions and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The move would allow the Biden administration, which has taken smaller steps in recent weeks to deter migrants and speed up the asylum process, to say it has done all it can to control the border numbers without congressional support.

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The restrictions under consideration, along with new efforts to speed up the cases of migrants already in the U.S. as well as efforts to speed up the processing of immigrants with criminal records and those who would otherwise end up deemed ineligible for asylum in the U.S., are an aggressive attempt to ease the country’s overcrowded asylum system.

Officials told The Associated Press that the administration is considering several policies that derive directly from the stalled bipartisan Senate border deal, including a cap on the number of visits to an average of 4,000 per day over the course of a week and whether that limit should include asylum-seekers who arrive at the border by making an appointment through U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s CBP One app. Currently, there are about 1,450 such appointments available per day.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee and The Associated Press contributed to this report.