With Title 42 ending, the Biden administration on Wednesday announced rules that would drastically restrict asylum claims by immigrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, sparking sharp criticism from immigration advocates and civil rights groups.

Earlier this year, the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice introduced draft rules limiting asylum for immigrants who transited other countries on their way to the U.S.-Mexico border and did not apply for asylum in those countries. . The new restrictions, often referred to as “third-country” rules or “no-traffic,” will halt the asylum of thousands of people coming to the U.S.-Mexico border, pushing advocates like the Washington Office on Latin America to February and It urged them to criticize the proposed rule until March.

Despite widespread criticism, the Biden administration has published a rule in the Federal Register, effective May 11, allowing the transit ban to be enforced just as Title 42 finally goes down. .

Title 42 is an abbreviation for expanded powers under U.S. law and was first enacted by the Trump administration early in the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. United States, including asylum seekers who have traveled to countries with high numbers of COVID-19 cases. The policy was implemented to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 to historically cramped and often unsanitary border facilities, where agents handled people on the ground and where Mexico was almost always the “country of last transit.” ” allowed them to be kicked out. .

In the first year of the policy, Customs and Border Protection agents deported people from the United States more than 197,000 times. The following year, CBP officials used Title 42 to deport people from the United States over a million times. However, once the policy was implemented, the number of encounters with border officials and immigrants increased rapidly as people attempted to enter the United States multiple times. I have been waiting for months in northern Mexico for an opportunity to seek asylum.

The Biden administration aimed to trim Title 42, and after a string of false starts announced in January, the policy would end just before midnight on Thursday.

DHS officials have warned border officials could face more than 10,000 daily crossings along the southwest border after Title 42 expires, with some local officials It has come to warn of a potential “humanitarian disaster” without federal assistance, including continued funding for shelter space, transportation and medical care. and food.

The new transit ban represents a major pivot for President Joe Biden, who sharply criticized the Trump administration’s attempt to make a similar, but very draconian, move in 2019. Cut off asylum and send immigrants back to third countries that were clearly not foreseen by federal law,” WOLA said. “The Biden administration’s ‘falsifiable presumption’ is less sweeping than Trump-era rules, but it nonetheless gives the executive branch powers that the law does not allow.”

During one of the presidential debates, Biden said of Trump, “He’s the first president in American history to say that anyone seeking asylum must do so in another country.”

The Trump administration tried to block people under similar bans, but that program was overturned by lawsuits launched by the American Civil Liberties Union, along with the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Center for Southern Poverty Law. .

A federal court agreed with the ACLU that the program was illegal, and after a lawsuit was filed through the federal court system, U.S. District John C. Tigger installed a nationwide injunction to prevent Trump from winning Biden in the 2020 election. effectively halted the measures after being defeated by

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mallorcas hits back at accusations that new rules are a ‘no-traffic’ reporter his plan “It’s a rebuttable presumption of ineligibility, and there’s a notable difference between the two.”

“We will sue over the transit ban under the Trump administration and if the Biden administration renews the ban, we will immediately sue. The transit ban is illegal regardless of which administration adopted it.” Said Lee Gelernt, one of the ACLU lawyers who led the prosecution of the Trump-era ban.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said on Tuesday that state officials will implement new bus routes to transport migrants from Douglas, Naco, and Nogales to shelters in Tucson to prevent Border Patrol from releasing people onto the streets. “Launched,” he said. About 300 people from those locations were relocated to Tucson, and about 1,200 were placed in shelters administered by Catholic Community Services, Pima County, and the City of Tucson as part of Casa Aritas.

“The rule makes the right to seek asylum upon arrival in the mainland of the United States, a legal right enshrined in section 208 of the Immigration and Nationality Act and the 1951 Refugee Convention, historically and legally questionable. We’re going to have a partial closure at the range,” Walla said. The group argued that the transit ban would deny asylum to thousands and, coupled with the rapid removal process, “facilitate the mass deportation of people who could otherwise qualify for asylum.”

CBP has created a new legal channel that allows asylum seekers to book at a few ports across the U.S. border, including the Nogales, Arizona border crossing, using a phone application known as CBP One. However, WOLA said the program was “inadequate”. to protect those at risk. ”

CBP said by May 10, the application will increase the number of bookings per day to 1,000. More than 60,000 migrants have booked through his CBP One since the program began, officials said.

The application allows people to initiate asylum applications and make appointments to travel to the port of entry to begin the first step of the asylum process. This includes “credible scare interviews” where people must demonstrate they could face violence or prosecution if they return home or are required to stay in Mexico. Many immigrants entered the United States through CBP One, but some were denied the program for “not following” the asylum process.

Meanwhile, Mallorcas also “launched a digital advertising campaign to counter lies spread by smugglers about the termination of public health orders under Title 42. It will be held in Central and South America, including Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador and Colombia.

As you can see from the images before the move flight and the encounter with border guards, it is very clear that the border is not open, that it is against the law to cross it illegally, and that people who are not eligible for redress are very clear. It is Mallorcas said. “Don’t listen to smugglers’ lies. This is what will happen to you. You will be returned.”

“When President Biden took office, he promised to restore a safe, orderly, and humane asylum process,” said Jeffrey Robbins, executive director of the American Immigration Council. The process for accessing asylum has been reduced to a lottery for a limited number of reservations at the port of entry.This illegal practice creates unnecessary barriers to protection and endangers the lives of asylum seekers. exposed to.”

“Today’s crackdown on asylum seekers is a reminder that many are fleeing oppressive regimes that are recognized worldwide, and that immigration is not just a matter of coercion, but a matter of American leadership and identity. “Policy makers must abandon the illusion of short-term solutionism and that only sustained investments in humanitarian protection systems over time can meet these 21st-century challenges. But while that investment is being made, we must continue to respect rights. Those who seek.”

“Freedom includes the right to seek security, start fresh and build a better life,” said Esther Song, legal director of Justice Action Center. “The Biden administration has turned its back on this right, removing a fundamental principle of US immigration law that anyone arriving in the mainland United States is entitled to seek asylum.”

“Instead of continuing to invest in building better systems, this administration is investing in deterrence-based policies that reduce access and increase insecurity for those in need,” Song said. “We should bring asylum laws into the 21st century rather than backtracking on what past administrations have neglected,” he said in a statement.

“President Biden has ushered in a new era of immense suffering for those already enduring violence and persecution,” said Jonathan Blazer, director of border strategy at the ACLU. “He has closed the possibility of asylum in the United States to the vast majority of those seeking safety, which is contrary to the laws and values ​​of our country. Instead of fulfilling his election promises, he’s finishing Trump’s job.It’s a gloomy day for our country and for refugees desperate for safety, but the battle isn’t over yet. yeah.”