Border Report Live: Immigration lawyers decry new asylum policies

HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — A group that represents immigration lawyers on Monday criticized the Trump administration’s travel ban and new asylum ban on migrants from 19 countries and accused the policies of being outside the realm of judicial review. Border Report Live: Doctors Without Borders director describes conditions in Tapachula, Mexico Ben Johnson, director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, says the new polices will add to the backlog of immigration cases and will cause migrants who already have undergone years of vetting, to undergo additional evaluations. Johnson questions how much this will cost the Department of Homeland Security and says it is unfair to ban migrants from applying for asylum simply because of their country of origin. And he says because the government is taking discretionary action, it is not subject to court approval. “They are sweeping attacks on the entire legal immigration system that will impact millions of innocent citizens and entire immigrant communities. The ripple effects of these policies will be felt in every corner of our economy and in communities across the nation. We’re talking about canceled naturalization ceremonies and potentially thousands of USCIS and state department appointments, pausing asylum and adjustment of status cases, work authorization being arbitrarily shortened, and entire categories of people suddenly thrown into limbo,” Johnson told media. In the latest edition of Border Report Live, South Texas Correspondent Sandra Sanchez talks about AILA’s reaction to these policies, which were announced after the shooting of two West Virginia National Guard soldiers over the Thanksgiving holiday. “These sweeping restrictions will not make our nation safer. Instead, they will impose time-consuming and wholly unnecessary extra work on DHS officials to repeat already completed processes. This will create backlogs and shift attention and resources away from USCIS’s statutory mission to fairly and efficiently adjudicate cases and identify actual security and safety threats, according to a policy brief released Monday by AILA. Immigration experts say the changes will further delay the already backlogged 3.4 million immigration cases that are pending, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Border Report Live: Asylum pause, travel bans after shooting raise concerns Also, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who was pardoned last week by President Trump on bribery charges, explains why he is a “conservative Democrat” and tells Border Report Live he intends to remain one. On Sunday, Trump criticized Cuellar for filing for re-election as a Democrat the same day he issued the longtime South Texas border congressman a full and unconditional pardon. “Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like.” Trump wrote on a social media post on Truth Social. “Oh’ well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!” And get a glimpse of a rare brown jay spotted in a wildlife reserve in the Rio Grande Valley — one of only nine believed brown jays to live in the United States. For more information, visit us at https://www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com/.