The Daily Signal - INTERVIEW | What to Know About End of Title 42 and Biden's New Asylum Rule

Episode Date: May 11, 2023

An estimated 13,000 illegal aliens are expected to cross America’s southern border every day beginning Thursday. That’s more than double the daily average in March.  This expected spike in the number of migrants crossing the border illegally is the direct result of the end of Title 42, a public health measure set in place under the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Title 42 has allowed Border Patrol to quickly expel some illegal aliens from the country. Without the measure, Border Patrol has little power under the policies of the Biden administration to turn illegal aliens away.  With illegal alien encounters expected to rise with the end of Title 42, the Biden administration has announced a new asylum rule effective once Title 42 expires.    The new rule requires illegal aliens to first seek asylum in another country they travel through and be denied before they seek asylum in the U.S.   “If individuals do not access their lawful pathways, the pathways that we have made available to them, they will face a rebuttable presumption, but a presumption of ineligibility,” DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said of the new rule during a press conference Wednesday.   Mayorkas’ reference to “lawful pathways” includes use of the CBP One mobile app, which allows illegal aliens to schedule an appointment at a port of entry to seek asylum.   But Biden’s new rule is already drawing criticism.   “The asylum rule simply directs everyone towards using the made-up, illegal mass parole programs that the Biden Administration erroneously labels 'lawful pathways' by using the CBP One mobile app to get a parole appointment at an interior airport,” Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Border Security and Immigration Center, told The Daily Signal. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Daily Signal.)   “In the long run,” Hankinson continued, “this won’t discourage anyone. Those who can use the parole app process will, those who can’t will just come anyway and cross illegally. The best we can hope for is that the new asylum rule reduces flows about as much as Title 42 did, and things remain status quo – a poorly managed disaster.”   Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center at The Heritage Foundation, joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain what the end of Title 42 means for the security of America’s border, and why Biden’s new asylum rule won’t solve the current crisis.  Enjoy the show! And watch the new Daily Signal documentary here: https://youtu.be/nfk1q-EXNDE Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Sinal podcast for Thursday, May 11th. I'm Virginia Allen. Today, Title 42 ends. Title 42 is a public health measure that was set in place under the Trump administration during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it has allowed Border Patrol to expel some illegal aliens from our southern border. Well, that's going away. The Department of Homeland Security estimates encounters at the southern border will reach 13,000 a day. That's about double the current daily average.

So what happens next? And what is the Biden administration doing to address this crisis? Here with us to explain more is director of the Border Security and Immigration Center here at the Heritage Foundation, Laura Reese. Laura, thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me on. So Title 42 is ending today. Explain what we've already been seeing this week at the southern border and what we expect to see today. Well, the cartels and the smugglers have been using this news to market and gather more customers.

And so tens of thousands of migrants have been making their way up through Central America and Mexico waiting for Title 42 to be shut off. And some aren't even waiting until it's gone. And the numbers have already jumped. So if we recall during President Obama's administration, then Secretary of Homeland Security, Jay Johnson said 2,000 encounters is a bad day. Yesterday and today we've exceeded 10,000. And it's just going to go up. And so border agents are being pulled off the line to process these people, unfortunately,

into the U.S. rather than turn them away, leaving gaping holes in parts of the border, through which Godaways can get through and more drugs and more fentanyl specifically. So these individuals come to the border. They say, I'm here to claim asylum. What happens next? Where do they go? So, yes, they only have to say a few words of fear, which many are coached to do, even though most of them are just coming here for economic reasons.

They're not truly fleeing for their lives. And they see an asylum officer with U.S. citizenship and immigration services. to do their credible fear interview. That standard is very low. Most clear that hurdle. And then they are given a court date to see an immigration judge. But unfortunately, the court docket is so backlogged right now that they can be waiting years before they see an immigration judge.

So then they are in the U.S. interior. They can easily find a job, even though that is against the law. and then they receive other downstream benefits. They can get driver's licenses if their state allows that, you know, housing, et cetera, and they start putting roots down in the U.S. They might get married, have a child. If they do have a child, that baby's a U.S. citizen. And so if they ever are put into removal proceedings,

then they would argue, well, you can't deport me. I've been here too long. I have too many roots and I have family ties here. So under Title 42, how has that really helped to Border Patrol? Do we know the numbers on how many illegal aliens have been deported under that Title 42 provision? It has been a valuable tool, but this administration has accepted, meaning not applied Title 42 to children, to families. and then even depending on your nationality. So it hasn't been used as thoroughly as it could be.

I believe this year it's been used or in the past year maybe a million times. But what this has shown all of us is that we need a general purpose authority to quickly expel illegal aliens when there is an emergency, be it health, or other, or if some or part of the or all of the border is no longer under operational control. There are circumstances where border agents need to be able to quickly expel aliens. So that's what all of this has shown us. Some argue, well, just keep extending Title 42. Again, that was about COVID.

COVID's over. So, you know, that particular authority does need to be shut off, but we need another type. Yeah, we need something else to fill that gap. So the Biden administration has come out this week and they've said, well, we have a plan with Title 42 ending. They've announced a new asylum rule. What is this asylum rule? And will it actually help to lessen the number of illegal aliens coming to the border and staying in the country illegally? So this rule is actually a gimmick and it's built on top of a shell game.

So back in January, the administration announced a quote unquote lawful pathway. way, which says and told future migrants, use this CBP mobile one application, make an appointment with CBP, and then go to a port of entry instead of trying to cross between the ports of entry. So that could mean an alien flying into an airport in the interior of the U.S. or going to a land port of entry. And then there they would be paroled into the U.S., which is in violation of the statute, and could remain here at a bare minimum of two years, get work authorization, but likely parole would be extended, and these people will not be deported.

And so what this rule says is you should use that, quote-unquote, lawful pathway. and if you don't and still try to cross illegally between the ports and claim asylum, we're going to have a rebuttable presumption that you are ineligible for asylum and turn you back. However, they create so many exceptions that are so broad to that rebuttable presumption that they swallow the rule, which means the net result is going to be most of these people will still get in the U.S. despite this rule. So it really doesn't help to fix the situation at all, is what I'm hearing you say. No, it doesn't.

It makes the administration sound like they're going to be applying a little bit of enforcement and consequences, but in fact, that just hasn't been their pattern. And they have drastically reduced their goal for deportations for this year and next year. For example, in 2020, the number of deportations that occurred was 186,000, which was very low due to COVID. I mean, there weren't a lot of people coming, so therefore not a lot of people deported. In 2021, there were only 59,000 deportations under the Biden administration rule. For this fiscal year and for next fiscal year, this administration is setting a target of deporting only 29,000 aliens. So given that, that shows their views on enforcement.

So they're just not credible when they say they are going to be deporting many people or enforcing the law to apply consequences. I want to get your thoughts on another action that we saw from the Biden administration as we've been preparing for today for the end of Title 42. Biden has sent 1,500 active duty troops to the southern border. I spoke with a border patrol agent last week. He essentially called these individuals paper pushers and even went so far as to call them a welcome wagon. Would you agree with that assessment? Unfortunately, yes. The name of the game for this administration is more resources so that they can quickly, more quickly, more efficiently process,

more legal aliens into the U.S. And so by providing these troops, it frees up the border agents to process more people into the U.S. And so their intent and the net result is not changing. So then what should the Biden administration be doing? How could they get this situation under control if they wanted to? They need to apply consequences, which means securing the border, allowing the agents to actually enforce the law, to follow everything.

expedited removal to turn these people back, to return to remain in Mexico. So if someone does have a fear of asylum, they can pursue it, but they're not going to be let in the U.S. to do it just to disappear. They have to wait in Mexico while their proceedings occur. That was used in the past during the Trump administration. It was very effective, and it stopped the caravans of illegal aliens coming because they realized that, you know, saying a few words of fear was no longer their ticket into the U.S. Also, re-implementing the policy of safe third country, which is asylum is about fleeing for your life.

And if you're truly fleeing for your life, then you should seek protection in the first safe country in which you arrive, not traverse multiple countries to country shop and just to get to the U.S. to seek asylum there. So when that occurs, that means returning someone who did not apply for asylum in a prior country to that country. We did that also during the last administration and when people realized, oh, I'm going to go back to Guatemala, for example, well, I'm just going to go home because I don't want to apply for asylum in Guatemala. Yeah. Let's talk for a moment about what Republicans in the House are trying to do. One thing that we've covered here at the Daily Signal

quite extensively is a border security bill that House GOP have put forward. It includes things like restarting the border wall, additional support and resources for border patrol agents, adding technology down at the border. Where does that stand in the house? Because we've been hearing it's going to be voted on Thursday the same day. Title 42 ends. Now that's questionable whether this vote is happening. Yeah, it looks like leadership is pausing on pursuing a vote on the bill, which is really disappointing. As we are literally watching historic numbers day after day at the southern border across illegally, we don't have a border.

And if you don't have a border, you don't have a country. And these members just campaigned on this very issue mere months ago and pledged in a commitment to America on securing the border. So it would be great if constituents would remind their representatives that their number one job is to protect Americans and to vote accordingly. Is it possible that these differences can get worked out, and we might see a vote later this week, early next week, or we really don't know right now?

I believe it can get worked out. It was worked out up until, through the Rules Committee on Wednesday. So occasionally it just, requires some reminding of what is truly going on and how Americans across the country are suffering from this and what they need and what they deserve. Absolutely. Well, Laura, we thank you for your time and want to direct all of our listeners to the Heritage Foundation website, heritage.org, to search for your work is all there.

Also on the Daily Signal website at daily signal.com. But, Laura, thank you for your time today. Thanks, Virginia. And I'll never forget just being fearful for my life. Let your phone calls, emails, protests outside the shop. I remember sleeping on the floor of my bedroom. Seeing the headlights driving by, just wondering if someone was going to carry out on some of the threats that I had seen in emails. Here I am on this journey, hopefully to protect not only my right to speak freely, but everyone's right to do just the same.

You've just listened to a sneak peek from our brand new documentary about Lori Smith. She's a web designer who the state of Colorado wants to force into creating LGBTQ websites and other content that directly violates her beliefs. We spoke with her and with Christian Baker, Jack Phillips, about their cases and about what's at stake for the First Amendment. You can find the documentary on the Daily Signal's YouTube channel or in the show notes for this episode. And with that, that's going to be it for today's edition of the Daily Sicle podcast. If you have not had a chance to check out our evening show at 5 p.m. be sure to do so. Also make sure to subscribe to the DailySingle Podcast wherever you like to listen,

and we will see you right back here at 5 p.m. for our top news edition. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. Executive producers are Rob Luey and Kate Trinko. Producers are Virginia Allen and Samantha Asheras. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. To learn more, please visit DailySignal.com. Thank you.