"Ultimately, today's action will reduce the overwhelming burdens on our domestic system caused by asylum-seekers failing to seek urgent protection in the first available country, economic migrants lacking a legitimate fear of persecution, and the transnational criminal organizations, traffickers and smugglers exploiting our system for profits," McAleenan said in a press release.
Migrants will only be allowed to apply for asylum in the United States if they first applied in at least one other country on their way to the US border, but their application was denied, McAleenen said.
In addition, migrants may be eligible to apply for asylum in the United States if they passed through a country or countries that are not part of certain international refugee treaties, including the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, the 1967 Protocol or the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Lastly, migrants will be eligible to apply for asylum in the United States if they were trafficked, the release said.
The new rule will be effective when the document is published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, the release said.
US Attorney General William Barr said in the release that the new rule is lawful and will help filter migrants exploiting the US asylum system.
Caravans of migrants from Central American countries seeking asylum began moving toward the United States through Mexico last fall. Trump has called the surge of arrivals a crisis and declared a national emergency in February to secure funds for constructing a border wall.