Migrants caught illegally crossing the border with Mexico could be denied asylum and quickly returned to Mexico, under new restrictions announced Tuesday by the administration of US President Joe Biden to enforce order on the southern border.
The new measures take effect immediately, with exceptions for unaccompanied children, people facing serious health and safety threats, and victims of drug trafficking, a senior official told reporters, according to Reuters.
Biden said at the press conference that he limited asylum to help "establish control" of the border.
The issue of immigration has emerged as one of the main concerns of Americans ahead of the November 5 election, in which Biden will face the Republican candidate, Donald Trump.
The new restrictions on asylum seekers are not permanent, a US official told reporters.
They are activated when the daily average of arrests at the border in one week rises to 2.500 and paused when arrests fall below 1.500 per day, the official said.
However, it remains unclear how the new measures will be operationally implemented, for example, how quickly the administration will deport migrants from distant countries with which the US does not have relations and how many non-Mexican migrants Mexico would be willing to accept.
Biden took office in 2021 promising to reverse some of Trump's restrictive immigration policies, but has faced record levels of daily illegal entries into the country, a trend that has strained border officials and cities where migrants arrive.
Trump criticized Biden for rolling back some of his policies and vowed to act tough if re-elected.
The new restrictions are reminiscent of Trump's policies and invoke the same article of law that served as the basis for Trump's travel ban that blocked people from several Muslim-majority countries and other countries.
The new restrictions are expected to spark lawsuits from migrant and civil rights groups, which have criticized Biden for implementing Trump's policies and rejecting America's legal obligations to asylum seekers.
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