Washington— Migrants who enter the United States without legal authorization will be screened by asylum agents while in custody, as part of a limited experiment that will give them access to legal counsel, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reported Friday.
The new approach will start with a small number of migrants next week. Authorities said the test is part of preparations for the expiration of a rule related to the coronavirus pandemic that has suspended the right for many to seek asylum. It is expected that this rule will cease to apply on May 11.
If expanded, the new process could lead to a major change in the way migrants are processed upon arrival on US soil to claim asylum.
DHS officials detailed that they will begin working with an unidentified legal services provider who will represent asylum seekers in initial investigations, known as “founded fear interviews.”
Access to legal representation will be essential for the plan to move forward, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not been publicly announced.
The interviews will take place in large temporary Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities with phone lines that will be used for the hearings, according to authorities. CBP policy limits detention to 72 hours, which will be the target time to complete verifications.
President Donald Trump introduced expedited screening while in CBP custody, but his successor, Joe Biden, scrapped it in his first week in office. Biden administration officials say the new attempt differs by guaranteeing access to legal counsel and by requiring screenings to be conducted by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) asylum officers, not immigration agents. Border Patrol, as happened with Trump.
Currently, it takes about four weeks to conduct a screening interview and, if someone does not meet the criteria, another four to five weeks for airlift back to their countries, authorities said. The new tactic is intended to shorten that time to less than 72 hours, the maximum allowed to hold someone at a CBP facility, under agency policy.
“This Administration will continue to explore all available tools to make asylum processing more efficient, while upholding due process and other protections, as Congress refuses to act to fix our decades-broken immigration system.” Homeland Security said in a statement.
The administration has removed migrants 2.7 million times under a rule in place since March 2020 that denies the rights to seek asylum under US and international law on the grounds of preventing the spread of Covid-19. Title 42, as the public health rule is known, is scheduled to end on May 11 when the United States lifts its latest Covid-related restrictions. Homeland Security officials have estimated that illegal entries from Mexico could rise to 13,000 a day after Title 42 expires, up from 5,500 in February.
Currently, few migrants are screened at the border if they express fear of being returned home, and often they are released to apply for asylum in long-standing US immigration courts, which takes years.
The initial screening sets a relatively low bar, with 77% approval in March, according to USCIS. The final approval rate for asylum is much lower.
