The US will toughen the asylum process for immigrants with criminal records

The United States government will propose this Thursday changes in political asylum policy at the borders would affect immigrants with criminal records, who could be rejected without waiting for a judge's decision.

The day before it emerged that President Joe Biden's administration will announce a proposal for changes that would accelerate the expulsion of immigrants considered "unfit" at the border, and would especially affect migrants with criminal records or those who, by virtue of other criteria, They could be declared ineligible to receive asylum in the United States.

Current law allows a migrant arriving at the border to undergo a “credible fear” interview, and then continue with the process even if they have a criminal record or pose a security risk. A judge later determines in court whether this migrant qualifies for asylum.

However, the change that the Biden administration plans to make gives the green light for an immigration officer to determine in the interview whether the migrant meets the requirements to continue in the United States or be returned to his country, without waiting for a judge's determination, four people familiar with the matter said. half Political.

These same sources also indicated that the proposal affects a relatively small universe of migrants and those who would not meet the criteria to receive asylum protection anyway.

According to the information, this change will accelerate the expulsion of immigrants who do not qualify to remain in the country due to risks to national security or public safety.

However, some officials have expressed concern that asylum officers working at border points take several hours to conduct credible fear screenings and the new policy would lengthen the process even further, placing an overload on immigration employees who already They face record lawsuits.

For their part, migrant rights advocates have raised doubts about any change in the credible fear process, noting that migrants often do these interviews under the stress of a long trip from their countries in which They risked their lives to reach the United States.

They point out that for this reason the initial interviews are designed to have a relatively low level of demand and avoid unjust deportations.

The Department of Homeland Security will make the proposed regulation this Thursday.

In recent years the president Democrat has faced serious pressure within his party to act alone on the border after the failure of a bipartisan Senate immigration plan earlier this year.

Now Biden officials are trying to take advantage of the failure of the border deal to reduce Donald Trump's lead in polls on borders and immigration.

On Tuesday, House Democrats called on Biden for executive action to "immediately take new steps to restore order at the southern border and fix our broken immigration system."

This week Donald Trump, Biden's political rival ahead of the November elections, said that if he wins, he will carry out the largest deportation operation in the history of the United States.

In an interview with the newspaper Time, the businessman emphasized the need to address what he considers "a unsustainable migration crisis for the country", making use of the police, the Army and without ruling out the creation of detention camps for immigrants.

Additionally, Trump emphasized that countries like Venezuela are becoming much safer, suggesting that "criminals" have emigrated.

In this regard, he pointed out that the United States already has a new category of crime, called "migrant crime."