As part of his ongoing attempt to deal with the burgeoning crisis on the US southern border, President Trump has called for some sweeping overhauls of the US asylum process.
What Trump proposes will make it not only harder to gain entry into the country for those seeking asylum, it will make it more expensive. Among his proposals to fix a system that he says is rife with abuse, Trump has called for a fee to process asylum applicants.
In addition to the application fee, Trump’s proposal would also deny work permits for asylum-seekers while they are here awaiting their case, and also require government officials to fast-track new asylum hearings to complete them within 180 days.
In the issued presidential memo on the matter, Trump specifically told Attorney General William Barr and acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan that the move was necessary to address a “crisis” at the border. In an article published earlier this month, The New York Times acknowledged that the humanitarian crisis of illegal immigration has hit a “breaking point.”
Arrests at Sothern Border Increasing Dramatically
The president’s call for rehashing US asylum policy comes as arrests at the southern border are increasing dramatically. Border agents made more than 100,000 arrests or denials of entry in March; a 12-year high. Immigration courts that process asylum claims, currently have a backlog of more than 800,000 cases, and asylum applicants are increasingly staying in the U.S. even after their claims for asylum have been denied.
“That emergency continues to grow increasingly severe,” Trump’s memo read. “The extensive resources required to process and care for these individuals pulls US Customs and Border Protection personnel away from securing our Nation’s borders.”
According to a White House fact sheet released along with the presidential memo, on average, “out of every 100 aliens subject to expedited removal who claim a fear of persecution, only about 12 will ultimately be granted asylum.”
And “around half of all aliens who make a credible fear claim and are subsequently placed in removal proceedings do not actually apply for asylum.”
Even though the vast majority of asylum applications are ultimately denied, they still take months and even years to fully process. Asylum law is intended to provide harbor only to refugees fleeing personal persecution based on a limited number of factors — such as political belief or religion — and does not protect individuals simply fleeing bad living conditions or poverty.
The White House and DHS officials did not immediately respond to questions about how much applicants might be forced to pay in asylum fees, and it is unclear how many families fleeing poverty would be able to afford such a payment.
The memo says the price would not exceed the cost of processing applications, but officials did not immediately provide an estimate for what that might be.
Immigration officials say one reason asylum claims are booming is that migrants know they will be able to live and work in the US while their cases play out — and, in many cases, even after their claims have been rejected. This is why Trumps memo also called for withdrawing the ability of asylum seekers to obtain provisional work permits, and to immediately revoke such permits from any asylum seeker who already has one under the old laws, once their claim has been denied.
Trump is also calling on DHS to reassign immigration officers and any other staff “to improve the integrity of adjudications of credible and reasonable fear claims, to strengthen the enforcement of the immigration laws, and to ensure compliance with the law by those aliens who have final orders of removal.”
Why not make it really simple, and just turn them all around and send them back to where they came from?
Yes! Why waste taxpayers money on housing, feeding and providing medical assistance to these people? May sound cruel but it’s the facts of life. I am not a Trump fan. Never was and never will be. However, I have to agree with him on this issue. We have to stymie the flow of illegals into our country now or we are looking at becoming a THIRD WORLD COUNTRY for our grandchildren and their children.
Asylum seekers should not be seeking asylum in America while waiting on their application THEY need to submit it from their own country and wait there if, and until, it is approved.
When applying for a job, the company doesn’t allow you to sit on their premises and wait there while your application is being processes. I see a big danger in allowing them to wait in America. Who knows whether they have criminal tendencies ????? Furthermore, THEY could disappear into the woodwork and never be found….until someone turns up dead !!!
I say NO to them taking asylum any where in our country while being better !!!
I say keep them out of our country period our country has already got enough of these leaches bringing there diseases and gang violence drug and human traffickers keep them outside get these dam Muslims out of here now they do not belong here period!!!
Send them all back…….we are not obligated to take on every one else”s problems. The whole asylum process is being abused severely and we all know it but we are still paying for their food, lodging, medical care and any other basic needs. Those $million need to be spent on our veterans, elderly, disabled families that need those same things. What part of illegal do our “representatives and senators” not understand.
Well said. I agree.
I agree with all of the above. Besides not knowing the crimminal backrounds of these people. They are bringing in diseases. Let them wait in thier own countrys until they are either approved or not approved to enter. But before they are allowed in they must have a complete physical to confirm they are disease free. Many diseases we were completly free of have resurfaced in alarming numbers.
We should not accept people in our country until they prove they are able to support themselves.
A refugee is a person who is fleeing war or persecution. I do not believe that there is war or persecution in Mexico. The government should look at the situation in migrant’s home countries. These people are economic migrants. They are abusing the system. You can compare it to each countries Social Security system. What if someone was abusing your Social Security system? What if someone was using a false identity or claiming benefits when they do have a job? Wouldn’t you be annoyed? That is what these migrants are doing. In Australia some illegal migrants were given houses in the Adelaide Hills. This is an attractive and expensive area. They were given houses in prime real estate! This is an insult to the local population.