With thousands of more immigrants expected at the southern border when the Title 42 rules expire on May 24, The Biden administration has recommended new procedures on how to handle the crisis.
But both the State of Texas and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, Inc (CLINIC) are opposed to the new policy.
The Interim Final Rule: Procedures for Credible Fear Screening and Consideration of Asylum, Withholding of Removal and CAT Protection Claims by Asylum Officers was announced by the White House on March 31 and would go into effect on May 31, one week after Title 42 is scheduled to end, pending various lawsuits.
Former president Donald Trump used Section 265 for Title 42 of the United States Code as the basis for ordering rapid deportations of illegal immigrants during the pandemic. The law allows the Surgeon General to deny entry to people arriving from an country if “there is serious danger of the introduction of such [a communicable] disease into the United States.”
On Thursday, the state of Texas announced a lawsuit against the proposal, arguing that the policy change will result in an influx of undocumented immigrants into the state for whom it would have to provide social services. It also contends that the Biden administration did not follow proper procedures in implementing the rule.
The lawsuit names the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Alejandro Mayorkas the Secretary of DHS, Attorney General Merrick Garland, President Biden, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) Commissioner Christopher Magnus, the Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Tae Johnson and four other defendants.
CLINIC’s objections to Biden’s plan focuses on an aspect of the rules that features prominently in the Texas lawsuit, though for very different reasons.
The new proposal will expedite the asylum process by giving asylum officers the authority to rule on claims, rather than an immigration judge.
That, along with requirements to prove a “credible fear” for the asylum seeker’s safety being reduced to pre-Trump administration levels, will result in a large number of immigrants being released into Texas, alleges the sate’s lawsuit.
CLINIC, while praising some parts of the new rules, object to it on the grounds that applicants denied asylum will lose their right to a fair trial. Failed asylum claims will not be seen by a judge under the new rule, with an immigration judge only seeing a transcript of the conversation between the claimant and the officer.
“While the proposed rule offers some positive changes, overall CLINIC opposes the proposed rule because it would strip asylum seekers of critical due process rights, most importantly the right to a full hearing before an immigration judge,” a statement from the charity reads. “The agencies largely continue the tone of the prior administration, treating asylum seekers as though they are a problem to be addressed, rather than human beings who are seeking protection.”
The DHS estimates that the Border Patrol will have 18,000 “interactions” with immigrants a day once Title 42 ends. The law enforcement agency currently averages around 6,000 interactions a day.
Previously, asylum seekers were allowed to stay in the United States while waiting for their case to be heard. Human Rights First claims that at least 10,000 cases of kidnapping, rape and other violent crimes have befallen immigrants who were forced to wait for their cases in border towns in Mexico under Trump’s “remain in Mexico” policy.
On Monday, a federal judge in Louisiana, appointed by the Trump administration, stated that he will temporarily block the Biden administration’s plan to end Title 42 deportations. More than a million immigrants have been removed from the United States since the rule’s implementation in March 2020.