DOJ and DHS Issue New Asylum Rule Limiting Asylum Seekers

The Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security announced today that a new asylum rule has been put into place. Using Presidential authority granted by Congress, from today, aliens who cross the southern border with Mexico without going through a Port of Entry will be rendered ineligible for asylum.  Asylum is a humanitarian immigration benefit intended to protect people from persecution if returned to their country of nationality. To learn more about the current asylum program, please click here.

This ruling will force all migrants to request asylum at legal points of entry and prevent them from claiming asylum if caught crossing the border illegally. Previously, the laws allowed migrants the right to claim asylum once they are on American soil, regardless of how they entered it.

This move, an obvious attempt to counter the caravan of migrants moving towards the country, was put in place to supposedly relieve the asylum system of the “meritless asylum claims from aliens who place a tremendous burden on our resources, preventing us from being able to expeditiously grant asylum to those who truly deserve it.”. The ruling cites Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act that states the president has power to suspend entry for all aliens of any class for any period of time if he deems appropriate for national security.

It is unclear at this time if this move will have some, if any, deterrence towards to the caravan of migrants moving towards the country. Legal challenges are expected to follow soon after.