Blitz Bureau
EL PASO: The Biden administration said on September 30 that it was making its asylum restrictions at the southern border stricter, as illegal immigration remains a source of scrutiny for the president’s policy agenda.
Under the president’s proclamation issued in June, the Federal Government could restrict asylum requests after more than 2,500 illegal immigrants had been apprehended at the border per day on average for seven consecutive days. That restriction would lift after the number dropped below 1,500 per day for a week.
The new restrictions prevent illegal immigrants from being able to request asylum whenever the Secretary of Homeland Security deems the southern border has become overwhelmed. The restriction will be lifted when the secretary “has made a factual determination that there have been 28 consecutive calendar days in which the 7-consecutive-calendar-day average of encounters is less than 1,500,” the new order states.
The administration is also now counting all children in that equation before previously only counting children from Mexico. The changes took effect on October 1. Immigration advocates criticised the last set of asylum restrictions that President Joe Biden announced in June.
