The Biden administration has announced a new plan to expedite asylum claims for immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally, but some experts question the plan’s effectiveness and say it could pose a national security risk. He claimed that there was.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a joint statement: announced A new plan to expedite asylum cases for some adult single immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally is the latest effort to quell a huge backlog within the immigration court system. But some experts who spoke to the Daily Caller News Foundation said the plan fails to address the larger problem of a growing influx of migrants and could open the door to national security threats. He said there is.
“While this initiative could bring much-needed relief to the stalled non-custodial immigration process, my primary concern is that it is an attempt to expedite and approve claims without thorough adjudication. “I think it’s going to be an attempt to do that,” said John Fabricatore, a former Immigration and Customs Enforcement official. ) field office director told DCNF.
The initiative is aimed at reducing the time it takes for immigration judges to decide asylum cases for some undocumented immigrants who entered the country through the U.S.-Mexico border. Those with legitimate claims will be granted asylum sooner, while those without will be denied.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said, “Today, we are working with the Department of Justice to streamline the asylum process so that individuals who are ineligible for relief can be expelled more quickly and individuals who are eligible can obtain protection sooner. We are enacting an accelerated process.” A statement introducing the Recent Arrivals Register program. (Related: ICE points to Biden administration policies as reason illegal immigrant accused of killing teen was released)
The “Recently Arrived Immigrants List” program is limited to adult single immigrants living in certain cities and aims to adjudicate cases within 180 days.
However, this announcement was not without criticism.
Mayorkas.shutter stock
“Accelerating the process without due diligence could inadvertently create exploitable loopholes that could undermine national security,” Fabricatore said.
The immigration court backlog has skyrocketed in recent years, a direct result of the ongoing border crisis.
The backlog of cases in 2022 was about 2 million, according to the Syracuse Transaction Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC). Currently, that number has swelled to about 20 million people. 3.5 million Due to pending litigation, the wait can be several years.
Immigration experts say these extremely long wait times are an incentive for illegal immigration, which forces immigrants to apply for asylum at the border and remain in the U.S. for years while their cases are adjudicated. becomes possible.
Fabricatore warned that while the unresolved cases themselves pose problems, “it remains important to maintain strict security standards to ensure the safety and integrity of the process.” A former ICE field director who is also running for Congress in Colorado warned that the Biden administration has shown a “consistent” tendency to bring forward cases without adhering to proper investigations and background checks.
Lora Rees, Border and Immigration Director at the Heritage Foundation, blamed the government for not focusing on border security for the huge immigration court backlog.
“The administration has plans to expedite decisions in five cities, but has done nothing to secure our borders to stop the flow of foreign nationals into the court pipeline,” Reese said. he told DCNF. “It’s about poor management of resources and taxes.”
Reese encouraged the Biden administration to implement initiatives put in place under the Trump administration and take other steps to keep asylum seekers out of the court system.
“Instead, the administration should restart the Remain in Mexico program and establish port courts along the southern border to prevent asylum fraud, catch-and-release, and aliens from using the court system,” Reese said.
The Biden administration has not provided details on how many immigrants will participate in the upcoming program, but the announcement specifies that single adult immigrants living in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City will be eligible.
DHS did not respond to requests for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content produced by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent, nonpartisan news distribution service, is available free of charge to legitimate news publishers with large audiences. All republished articles must include our logo, reporter byline, and DCNF affiliation. If you have any questions about our guidelines or our partnership, please contact us at licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
