It took an unprecedented immigration crisis for the Biden administration to finally propose a rule that limits the chaotic asylum free-for-all on the southern border and, not surprisingly, the left is up in arms. Under the measure to finally curb illegal immigration, migrants would be required to seek asylum or other protection in countries through which they travel. That would drastically slash illegal immigration since the majority of migrants who have applied for asylum in recent years have taken routes through various central American countries before arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border to request refuge. Not to worry, though, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) assures it will only be a temporary order to help reduce reliance by migrants on dangerous human smuggling networks, protect against extreme overcrowding in border facilities, and ensure that the processing of migrants seeking protection in the United States is done in an effective, humane, and efficient manner.
“The proposed rule would encourage migrants to avail themselves of lawful, safe, and orderly pathways into the United States, or otherwise to seek asylum or other protection in countries through which they travel, thereby reducing reliance on human smuggling networks that exploit migrants for financial gain,” according to the Federal Register announcement of the proposed rule, which is officially known as Circumvention of Lawful Pathways. “It would do so by introducing a rebuttable presumption of asylum ineligibility for certain noncitizens who neither avail themselves of a lawful, safe, and orderly pathway to the United States nor seek asylum or other protection in a country through which they travel.” The Biden administration proceeds to explain, as if the nation has not already seen the consequences of its reckless open border policies, why the law is necessary. “In the absence of such a measure, which would be implemented on a temporary basis, the number of migrants expected to travel without authorization to the United States is expected to increase significantly, to a level that risks undermining the Departments’ continued ability to safely, effectively, and humanely enforce and administer U.S. immigration law, including the asylum system, in the face of exceptionally challenging circumstances.”
As expected, the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways has ignited fury among open border groups that say the rule amounts to an unlawful asylum ban. Some of the world’s most influential and politically connected organizations are demanding that the Biden administration refrain from implementing the much-needed measure, which they assert is inhumane. All the leftist nonprofits conveniently omit the detriments of a lawless system that saw a record-breaking 2.4 million illegal immigrants apprehended along the Mexican border in fiscal year 2022. Or that Border Patrol agents arrested hundreds of gang members—mostly from the famously violent Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13)—and dozens of people on the national terrorist watchlist, emphasizing the dire need to secure the famously porous border. The pro immigrant cheerleaders also fail to acknowledge that arrests of illegal immigrants inside the U.S. nearly doubled in 2022 over 2021 and tens of thousands had serious criminal histories that include multiple charges and convictions, illustrating the devastating impact of the Biden administration’s disastrous open border policies which have allowed unparalleled numbers of migrants into the country with minimal or no vetting.
One international group demands that the Circumvention of Lawful Pathways be withdrawn entirely because it would have a devastating impact on the physical and mental health of people seeking safety. “The implementation of the rule would only exacerbate humanitarian needs and unsafe conditions along the US-Mexico border and in other locations on the migration route,” according to Doctors Without Borders. “The Biden administration should instead focus on restoring full access to asylum at ports of entry, in line with US law and international obligations.” Another well-known organization, Human Rights First, claims the measure would return to persecution refugees who qualify for asylum under U.S. law and leave others in limbo without a pathway to citizenship. The group also orders the Biden administration to withdraw the “unlawful proposed rule in its entirety” and take steps to restore access to asylum. Another leftist organization, the American Immigration Lawyers Association, calls the measure an asylum transit ban that relies on transit countries that can neither ensure asylum seekers’ safety or a system that protects human rights granted under U.S. law. Not surprisingly, the group of lawyers also has “significant concerns” surrounding illegal immigrants’ “access to counsel” of the rule is implemented.
