Trump Orders Asylum Overhaul Amid ‘Severe’ Border Crisis
The changes would include a new fee to process asylum applicants
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President Donald Trump called for an overhaul on the US asylum system which he said has been subjected to fraud, according to reports.
The changes would include a new fee to process asylum applicants, along with the function to swiftly settle applicants' claims while barring them from working in the US while the decision is made.
Trump told Attorney General William Barr and Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan that it was a significant move to address a "crisis" at the border.
Even The New York Times acknowledged there was a crisis at the border earlier this month, noting that illegal immigration has hit a "breaking point."
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In recent months, arrests at the southern border have soared, with border agents over 100,000 arrests in March.
Last month, Border agents in El Paso, Texas managed to capture over 430 illegal immigrants with the space of five minutes as two large groups of migrants flooded unsecured areas of the Southern Border.
Agents apprehended a group of 194 illegals, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Currently, Immigration courts have a massive backlog of more than 800,000 cases, as many asylum seekers remain the /US even after being denied.
“That emergency continues to grow increasingly severe,” Trump's memo read.
“The extensive resources required to process and care for these individuals pulls U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel away from securing our Nation’s borders.”
A White House fact sheet released Monday, said 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."
"Around half of all aliens who make a credible fear claim and are subsequently placed in removal proceedings do not actually apply for asylum."
Trump last year rolled back an Obama-era expansion of potential asylum justifications, which protected those claiming domestic abuse or gang-related attacks at home.
Those categories were prone to abuse, the White House said at the time.
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Trump gave his deputies 90 days to introduce regulations, so applications for asylum are decided within 180 days.
The president also has vowed to bar anyone who has entered or attempted to enter the US illegally from being issued a temporary work permit.
According to Fox News: Immigration officials say one reason asylum claims are booming is that migrants know they will be able to live and work in the U.S. while their cases play out -- and, in many cases, even after their claims have been rejected.
According to the White House, the number of "aliens who do not show up to court and are ordered removed in absentia has soared, with 17,200 removal orders issued in absentia in the first quarter of the fiscal year (FY) 2019. ... If this pace continues, in absentia removal orders would more than triple the 2013 total."
For asylum cases originating in a credible fear claim, "in absentia removal orders are on pace to increase to 17,636 in FY 2019, around 20 times more than the total in FY 2010."
And since September 2018, "1 out of every six family unit cases filed on special expedited dockets at ten immigration courts has ended with an in absentia removal order," the White House said.
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."
