The Biden administration announced an overhaul of its approach to immigration on Thursday, promising would-be illegal immigrants new chances to reach the U.S. as long as they don’t rush the border.
In roughly two weeks, the government will lose its Title 42 border expulsion authority. This pandemic-era tool has helped prevent the border crisis from becoming a catastrophe.
Officials said they still expect a surge of illegal immigration when Title 42 ends on May 11. They hope the new steps will eventually persuade migrants that they can earn a chance to enter the country if they wait but will be barred if they don’t wait.
“We can, and will, reduce the number of migrants that reach our southern border,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said.
His plan involves expanding avenues for entry, including more refugees, more family reunification and an expanded use of his controversial “parole” power. The U.S. will set up welcome centers in foreign countries to tell would-be migrants about those paths.
Mr. Mayorkas vowed a tougher stance against those who don’t use the legal channels and show up at U.S. borders anyway.
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He said the administration hopes to finalize a regulation by May 11 that would allow the U.S. to automatically deny asylum to anyone who crosses through another country to reach the U.S. He said those who do show up can be put into a speedy deportation, or “expedited removal,” which he said can oust someone in a matter of weeks or days.
He announced the plans alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has roped Canada and Spain into the effort. Those countries have promised to welcome some of the migrants.
Panama has also promised cooperation in reducing the number of people coming through the Darien Gap, a stretch of jungle where South America connects to Central America. The gap has become a chokepoint — and dying ground — for migrants trying to reach the U.S. from beyond North America.
Parts of the plan seem hastily assembled.
None of the “regional processing centers” is operational, and just two will be ready in the coming weeks, officials said. The two centers will be in Guatemala and Colombia.
More processing centers are coming, but officials declined to say where or when.
Mr. Mayorkas estimates that 5,000 to 6,000 people a month will use the centers in the early going. That’s a tiny fraction of the total flow of people. In March, Customs and Border Protection recorded nearly 258,000 unauthorized entries.
Mr. Blinken said they believe their carrot-and-stick approach can shape the thinking of migrants when they see family, friends and neighbors who enter the U.S. easily through the welcome centers and pathways.
“My expectation would be that many other people beyond those that are actually being processed in any month will stay put and wait to avail themselves of this additional way of accessing legal pathways,” he said.
That would be a reversal of the current incentive structure, in which would-be migrants see relatives and friends make it to the U.S. and get caught and then quickly released, giving them a foothold. Analysts say that foothold is enticing record numbers of people to make the journey.
The secretaries acknowledged that things would be rough in the weeks around May 11 and said they expect a new surge in illegal immigrants. Indeed, experts say migrants are already massing in Mexico to rush the border when Title 42 expires.
The plan does give the administration something to point to for hopes of improvement as the 2024 presidential campaign picks up.
Mr. Blinken and Mr. Mayorkas suggested that their goal is not to deter people from coming but to change how they arrive. In particular, they want people to stop paying the smuggling cartels and making the perilous journey.
“It’s an approach focused on making migration more safe, orderly, humane, and on advancing the interests of the American people,” Mr. Blinken said.
Republicans said the administration should focus instead on deterrence.
“The more you incentivize people, the bigger the wave will be,” said Rep. Mark Green, Tennessee Republican and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. “Every single thing Alejandro Mayorkas is doing is to speed more people into this country.”
He and fellow Republican leaders said they would bring a border security bill to the House floor for a vote in May. The legislation would tighten asylum rules, restrict the use of the parole power, grant new powers to expel illegal border crossers and restart border wall construction.
“We’re going to show the president how to solve this problem,” said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican.
Mr. Mayorkas said he is confident his plan can work based on his department’s trial run over the past few months.
In January, he announced a plan to use his parole power to allow up to 30,000 migrants a month from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua. Those who arrive at the border without checking in first are pushed back into Mexico.
The number of people from those countries caught sneaking in plummeted from more than 85,000 in December to about 2,400 in February and 4,200 in March. The number of unauthorized migrants coming through official entry points rose from less than 1,000 a month in early 2022 to nearly 39,000 in March.
Other nationalities have picked up the slack and started entries in places beyond the southern border.
The Border Patrol recorded a drop from about 212,000 illegal immigrants nabbed in March 2022 to about 164,000 last month, but overall CBP encounters rose from about 250,000 in March 2022 to about 258,000 last month.
That indicates more unauthorized migrants are coming, but they are not streaming across the southern border.
Mr. Mayorkas announced some limitations on his ability to enforce the law. He said families that jump the border will not be detained. Deporting them will be difficult because once people are released from custody, their cases generally go to the back of the line.
That often means they can spend years in the U.S. before their initial immigration court hearings.
Mr. Mayorkas said he is contemplating “enhanced” alternatives to detention that could be used to track families, but he didn’t say what that means.
The administration also has potential legal hurdles.
Republican-led states say Mr. Mayorkas has stretched his parole power far beyond its intent and are challenging him in court.
According to policy, parole is supposed to apply in limited cases where admitting someone would significantly benefit the U.S. public. It typically applies to obtaining urgent medical treatment or serving as a witness in a criminal investigation.
An administration official told reporters Thursday that officials believe they are acting lawfully.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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