The president’s government Joe Biden is pushing a new rule to more quickly expel immigrants who seek asylum but are considered a security risk national or public of the United States.
The Notice of Rulemaking (NPRM) is proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), through the office of Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
“Although the number of immigrants who are subject to these bans is small, This rule would allow DHS to more quickly expel those subject to the bans. and represent a risk to our national or public security,” said the Biden Administration.
In a call with a journalist, A senior DHS official noted that the US “continues to face” a significant number of immigrantsso the new rule will allow the prosecution of people with possible links to terrorism and other threats to the country.
“This may be applied in the initial state of the asylum request,” said the official about one of the facilities that the rule will grant, that is, when the staff who conducts the first interview with a petitioner will be able to determine the risk.
A document distributed by the DHS states that processing an asylum seeker for expedited removal is currently not permitted.
“While anyone deemed to pose a threat to public safety is detained, the determination of eligibility for asylum is not currently made until later in the process, at the merits adjudication stage of asylum claims.” and withholding of expulsion,” the document states. “Today’s proposed rule would allow asylum officials to consider these asylum bans and withholding of removal during the initial credible fear assessment.”
That is to say, The new rule will make it possible to determine that a person represents a risk to the United States and to expel them quickly.
Secretary Mayorkas defends rule
The Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, considered that the rule is an additional step by the Biden Administration on security in the United States.
“The proposed rule we have published today is another step in our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of Americans by more quickly identifying and removing those individuals who present a security risk and have no legal basis to remain here,” Mayorkas said. . “We will continue to take action, but fundamentally only Congress can fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system.”
What changes the rule?
The DHS points out that the current process for immigrants who may represent a danger to public or national security lengthens the expulsion of these people.
“Noncitizens who present a risk to national or public security remain in DHS custody while their cases are referred for full immigration hearings before an immigration judge, a process that can take years and requires many resources,” it was justified.
The new rule, expected to take effect sometime in the summer – given public comment times – would allow asylum officials to issue a denial of an asylum application and process the person for removal.
The official at the news conference did not determine how many people might be in that category, but the information provided indicates there would be coordination with law enforcement agencies.
“This updated guidance clarifies the circumstances under which classified information must be used in immigration proceedings,” the plan says.
They will share information with other countries
This newspaper questioned whether information about the concerns that certain immigrants raise regarding national and public security will be shared with the countries where they will be returned.
“We always do what we can share information with governments that receive migrantswe are returning any national or public security problem that we have identified,” the official said.
He added that in the recent meeting in Guatemala, where progress was made on the Los Angeles Declaration, coordination with other countries in the region was addressed.
As to whether the decision was about national security or to unblock the asylum system, the official said he was focused on the former.
“The aim is to guarantee that, once again, the people we are most concerned about are those we have detected with serious criminal records or links to terrorism, so that they are eliminated as soon as possible,” the official said.