Following months of rumors , on Tuesday the Biden administration unveiled an executive order designed to shut down the border to people seeking asylum, as well as a rule to implement it. The rule took effect at 12:01 a.m.
ET on Wednesday, marking the administration’s most drastic ploy to restrict asylum yet. With limited exceptions, the rule closes the border to people seeking asylum when crossings exceed a daily average of 2,500 for seven consecutive days, and only reopens when there has been a sustained decrease in arrivals. For more than three years, crossings have exceeded that threshold every single week, meaning restrictions will loom over the foreseeable future.
During these shutdowns, people fleeing persecution are ineligible for asylum and have only a slim chance at accessing two limited forms of protection — withholding of removal and Convention Against Torture relief — if they can meet a far higher standard than that required for asylum. But to even have the chance to obtain these forms of relief, asylum seekers will be required to proactively express their fear at arrival and prove the strength of their claims — most likely without the assistance of an attorney or the opportunity to gather evidence. Withholding and Convention Against Torture protections only prevent the person from being returned to their home country.
Unlike asylum, they do not lead to likely lawful permanent resident status and then citizenship, and they do not allow an individual to bri.
