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Biden Plans Border Restrictions as COVID Rule Ends


FILE: Immigrants queue outside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) office to be processed near the border with Mexico as the U.S. lifts COVID-19restrictions tblocking migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border from seeking asylum since 2020 near El Paso, Texas, U.S., May 9, 2023.
FILE: Immigrants queue outside a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) office to be processed near the border with Mexico as the U.S. lifts COVID-19restrictions tblocking migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border from seeking asylum since 2020 near El Paso, Texas, U.S., May 9, 2023.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. will roll out a new regulation Wednesday that would deny asylum to most migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, a key part of President Joe Biden's enforcement plan as COVID-19 border restrictions known as Title 42 end this week.

The regulation will create a new presumption that migrants arriving at the border are ineligible for asylum if they passed through other nations without seeking protection elsewhere first or if they failed to use legal pathways for U.S. entry.

The new restrictions will apply to the vast majority of non-Mexican migrants since they typically pass through multiple countries en route to the United States.

In addition to the bar on asylum seekers, which could ramp up deportations, Biden officials said in late April that they are expanding legal pathways for migrants abroad in order to provide alternative ways to enter the United States and discourage illegal crossings.

The Biden administration is preparing for possible increase in already record levels of unauthorized border crossings when the COVID-19 restrictions, first implemented in March 2020, are lifted on Thursday.

On the call with reporters on Tuesday, Biden officials said the administration planned to open more than 100 migration processing centers in the Western Hemisphere and would launch a new online appointment platform in the coming days.

The officials also said they expected Mexico to step up immigration enforcement this week, including in southern Mexico.

The final version of the regulation, to be posted online Wednesday, will have no major changes from a draft published in February, a senior Biden administration official told reporters on Tuesday evening.

Biden's new regulation restricting asylum access at the border resembles similar measures implemented under Trump that were blocked by U.S. courts.

The move also counters previous statements Biden made in 2020 on the campaign trail, saying he thought it was "wrong" for people not to be able to seek asylum on American soil.

Migrants have been amassing in Mexico this week as thousands crossing into the U.S. have strained border cities.

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