For the Washington Office for Latin American Affairs (WOLA), the Joe Biden administration will not only continue to violate its own Immigration and Nationality Act —which allows the right to asylum to those who request it upon reaching US soil—, but that it will also use its new rules to turn away immigrants en masse.
Under current policy, backed by Title 8, people who cross the border irregularly without going through the asylum process through the CBP One app will be immediately deported. In other words, the Government completely strips the alternative of remaining in the United States to become an asylum seeker. Since last May 12, immigrants have only been allowed to request humanitarian protection strictly outside the US borders.
WOLA points out that section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which deals with the right to asylum while in the United States, makes no distinction as to how the applicant arrives in the country. “Those who enter without inspection by crossing the land border between ports of entry may have committed a misdemeanor, but there is nothing in the law to indicate that their manner of entry has any bearing on their eligibility to apply for asylum,” the organization emphasizes. research leader.
This is not only in violation of US law, but international law as well. The 1951 Refugee Convention, to which the United States is a signatory, has as its main foundation that a refugee should not be returned to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom.
However, the Biden government explained that it will deny the process to migrants who come to a port of entry without an appointment. Nor will it let in those who passed through countries on their way to the United States without seeking asylum and having been denied. “It doesn’t matter how and where an asylum seeker crossed into the United States. Nor does it matter how many countries it has passed through, ”says WOLA.
“We still don’t know how aggressively and fully the US and Mexican governments will implement the new ‘no transit’ rule,” WOLA asserted, as the Mexican government has agreed to receive migrants of certain nationalities who cannot be deported to their countries. countries of origin, such as Venezuelans and Haitians.
Migrants who are processed under Title 8 will face a “rebuttable presumption of ineligibility for asylum.” This means they will have to defend their applications while in custody at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on a phone call with an officer.
If the US authorities consider that the case does not proceed, they will be deported quickly and will not be able to retry the procedure for another five years.
The rule would partially close, to a historical and legally questionable degree, the right to seek asylum upon arrival on US soil, as set forth in section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and the 1951 Refugee Convention, the organization asserts. .
In addition, it indicates that single adult migrants could be the most affected than those traveling as a family.
“Title 8 is a dramatic distortion of the right to request asylum. Along with the expedited removal process, they will drive mass deportations of people who might otherwise qualify for asylum. It is difficult to argue that this is consistent with section 208,” WOLA argued.
The United Nations (UN) estimates that there are approximately 660,000 migrants currently in Mexico, including more than 200,000 Haitian and Venezuelan citizens, in addition to 287,000 internally displaced Mexican citizens.
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