By Raul Castillo
30 Sep 2024, 17:30 PM EDT
The United States Government announced this Monday new measures to reinforce asylum restrictions on the border with Mexico, in the midst of the electoral campaign between the current vice president and Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris, and the former Republican president, Donald Trump.
The modifications will further complicate the lifting of the asylum veto and come at a time when migration has become a key issue in the political contest.
What rules does it modify?
The new restrictions, which will come into force starting tomorrow, adjust the criteria for lifting the asylum veto enacted last June. Under current regulations, the Government could eliminate restrictions if the average number of irregular migrant crossings remained below 1,500 daily arrests for seven consecutive days.
However, under the announced modifications, that threshold is extended to 28 consecutive days with fewer than 1,500 arrests per day.
In addition, unaccompanied minors will now be counted among the figures for irregular crossings, a measure that seeks to further tighten the conditions so that the veto can be lifted.
“With these modifications, we seek to reinforce security on the border and deter irregular migration,” said Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of National Security, in an official statement.
Criticism of human rights organizations
The modifications to asylum rules have generated strong criticism from human rights organizations, which consider them an attempt to limit access to international protection.
The ACLU, along with other NGOs, has noted that tightening asylum conditions puts the lives of those fleeing violence and persecution in their countries of origin at risk.
Yael Schacher, director for the Americas of Refugees International, described the measure to include unaccompanied minors in the crossing count as an attempt to “inflate the numbers” of arrests to avoid lifting the asylum veto.
“This is more of an effort to limit asylum than to control the border,” Schacher added, referring to the new measures as a “desperate” act by the administration to reduce immigration.
For his part, Adam Isaacson, an expert in immigration policy at the organization WOLA, told EFE that with current trends in migratory movement in the region, it will be “difficult to imagine” that asylum restrictions can be lifted in the near future.
Meanwhile, criticism of the Democratic Party’s immigration policy continues to be a focus of the election campaign, with Trump and other Republicans accusing the Biden administration of creating a “crisis” at the border.
With information from EFE.
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