The Biden administration is planning more changes to quicken asylum processing for new migrants

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is preparing more changes to the nation’s asylum system meant to speed up processing and potential removal of migrants who continue to arrive at the southern border, an interim step as President Joe Biden continues to mull a broader executive order to crack down on border crossings that may come later this year. The change under consideration would allow certain migrants who are arriving at the border now to be processed first through the asylum system rather than going to the back of the line, according to four people familiar with the proposal. The people were granted anonymity to speak about an administration policy before it is made final. The announcement, expected to come from the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department, could come as early as Thursday, although the people cautioned that it could be delayed. The broader goal of the administration with this change is to process recent arrivals swiftly, within six months, rather than the numerous years it would take under the current backlog in the nation’s asylum system. ADVERTISEMENT The new rules would apply to people who cross between ports of entry and turn themselves in to immigration authorities. READ MORE Chinese migrants wait to be processed after crossing the border with Mexico Wednesday, May 8, 2024, near Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif. San Diego became the busiest corridor for illegal crossings in April, according to U.S. figures, the fifth region to hold that title in two years in a sign of how quickly migration routes are changing. (AP Photo/Ryan Sun) New immigration court docket aims to speed up removals of newly arrived migrants Migration officials detain undocumented Haitians in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, May 16, 2024. As soaring violence and political turmoil grip neighboring Haiti, Dominican Republic’s election on May 19 has been defined by calls for more migratory crackdowns and finishing a border wall dividing the countries. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) Haiti’s crisis rises to the forefront of elections in neighboring Dominican Republic FILE - Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right party PVV, or Party for Freedom, talks to the media, two days after winning the most votes in a general election, in The Hague, Netherlands, on Nov. 24, 2023. Anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders is on the verge of brokering a four-party coalition in the Netherlands six months after coming in first in national elections, opening the prospect that yet another European Union nation will veer toward the hard right weeks ahead of EU-wide elections. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File) The Netherlands veers sharply to the right with a new government dominated by party of Geert Wilders The Biden administration is taking increasingly restrictive measures to dissuade people from coming to the U.S.-Mexico border. Right now, when a migrant arrives, particularly a family, they are almost always released into the country where they wait out their asylum court dates in a process that takes years. By quickly processing migrants who have just arrived, it could stop others from trying to make the trip. A record 3 million cases right now are clogging the nation’s immigration court. The average caseload for a judge is 5,000 and these changes won’t help diminish their workload. There are roughly 600 judges. The administration has tried for years to move more new arrivals to the front of the line for asylum decisions, hoping to deport those whose claims are denied within months instead of years. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations also tried to accelerate the process, going back to 2014. In 2022, the Biden administration introduced a plan to have asylum officers, not immigration judges, decide a limited number of family claims in nine cities. ADVERTISEMENT Michael Knowles, spokesman for the National Citizenship and Immigration Services Council, a union that represents asylum officers, said in a February interview that the 2022 plan was “a very important program that got very little support.” Last year, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement began an effort in 45 cities to speed up initial asylum screenings for families and deport those who fail within a month. ICE has not released data on how many families have gone through the expedited screenings and how many have been deported. A bipartisan border agreement drafted by three senators and endorsed by Biden earlier this year offered funding for 100 new immigration judges and aides. But that legislation never advanced after Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, urged fellow Republicans to kill the deal. ADVERTISEMENT Meanwhile, advocates for immigrants have generally expressed concern about changes that would expedite already-fraught proceedings for migrants, who arrive at the U.S. border after what is often a harrowing journey north. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.