BIDEN SHOULD DECLARE AN UNCONTROLLABLE MIGRATION
There are 1.6 million asylum applicants awaiting hearings in the U.S., half under the Department of Homeland Security and half in immigration court. It is the largest number on record. Applicants have less than a 50 percent chance of gaining asylum, but they can legally work with an approved government permit while waiting four years or longer for court hearings to resolve their cases. Under President Barack Obama a decade ago, just over 100,000 people were awaiting an immigration court hearing.
Government data show that in fiscal year 2019 under President Donald Trump, 15 percent of applicants were granted asylum, 32 percent were denied and 41 percent never filed an application after passing an initial interview. In fiscal year 2022 under President Joe Biden, 14 percent were granted asylum, 11 percent were denied and 28 percent never filed an application after passing an initial interview. There are other categories given, so these don’t add up to 100 percent. Contributing to new asylum applicants are Biden administration policies permitting applicants to claim domestic abuse and gang violence.
Last year, the United States had more asylum applications than any other country, ahead of Germany, France, Russia, Costa Rica and Mexico. Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves authorized major asylum reforms in December, alleging the system is abused by economic migrants, as is occurring here. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which regulates legal immigration, published its 2023-2026 “strategic plan” in January, announcing a major goal is to prevent asylum application fraud.
Congress needs to prohibit asylum applicants from nations that refuse re-entry to its deported citizens, some of whom are convicted criminals. This would exclude countries such as Iran, Iraq and Russia as well as China, whose asylum seekers make up about one-third of all approved U.S. asylum seekers over the past two decades.
Cross-border migrant expulsions into Mexico currently result in massive re-entries. To correctly enforce federal law requires continuous plane flights to transport removable migrants and denied asylum applicants to their native countries. Migrants’ understanding of inevitable “expedited removal” will significantly decrease migrations.
Without congressional legislation, every president has the authority to declare an uncontrollable migration, including of asylum seekers, to invoke Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 212(f ): “Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.” Reuters/Ipsos polling this month showed only 26 percent of American adult respondents approved of President Joe Biden’s ability to control the border, which warrants invoking this section of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
Federal judges in Texas and Florida have ruled Biden’s administration violated federal law when releasing over 2 million migrants into the U.S. after their unlawful entry; most can later apply for asylum. Released migrants are impacting taxpayers with unfeasible social service costs in many cities, requiring federal funding which will increase the nation’s $1.5 trillion deficit.
Due to the overwhelming migrant crisis, U.S. Border Patrol officers are diverted from fully protecting our national security and from preventing drug and human smuggling. America needs to follow the orderly immigration practices of Ellis Island. What results from the government inefficiently controlling our borders is explained in a ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1889: “If it could not exclude aliens, it would be to that extent subject to the control of another power.”
Last year, the U.S. had more asylum applications than any other country.