UnacCompanied Minors and asylum seekers

update: fast-track release of some migrant children

March 23, 2021, New guidance

  • In a weekend in late March, 5,000 unaccompanied minors were stranded in short-term Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities
  • New guidance says that children with “category 1” cases (youth who have parents or legal guardians in the U.S. willing to house them) are eligible for the new expedited release process unless they are “especially vulnerable”; if their cases require a legally-mandated home study; or if red flags are identified in regards to the parents or legal guardians seeking to sponsor them.
  • Guidance also authorizes covering of parent’s travel costs to pick up their children

Update: Statement by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas Regarding the Situation at the Southwest Border

Homeland Security – March 16, 2021, Press Release

  • Secretary Mayorkas reiterates Biden’s statement from the original executive order above ““securing our borders does not require us to ignore the humanity of those who seek to cross them.”
  • Mentions that there are more individuals at the Southwest border than there have been in 20 years. This includes unaccompanied minors and families traveling together, being expelled under the CDC’s Title 42 authority
  • Reasons mentioned for the influx in migration include increased poverty in the Northern Triangle, the dismantling of the asylum system under the last administration, the cut in foreign aid to the Northern Triangle by the last administration, and of course the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • The Secretary recognizes that more work needs to be done to address this population and in a humane, fair way.
  • Actions taken by Homeland Security to address this include:
    • Customs and Border Protection stood-up an additional facility in Donna, Texas to process unaccompanied children and families and is standing up additional facilities in Texas and Arizona to shelter unaccompanied children and families
    • Deployed additional personnel to provide oversight, care, and transportation assistance
    • Partnered with community-based organizations to test and quarantine families that Mexico has not had the capacity to receive (while working with Mexico to increase capacity)
    • ICE has also developed additional facilities to provide testing, local transportation, immigration document assistance, orientation, travel coordination in the interior, and mechanisms to support oversight of the migrant families who are not expelled.
    • Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) directed to assist HHS in developing the capacity to meet the surge of unaccompanied children
    • Restarting and expanding the Central American Minors program. This creates a lawful pathway for children to come to the United States without having to take the dangerous journey. Under this expansion, children will be processed in their home countries and brought to the United States in a safe and orderly way

News articles on this statement

Asylum and irregular migration

White House – February 2, 2021, Executive Order

  • This order works to improve the US immigration system, to ensure applications and petitions are adjudicated efficiently, and to develop strategies to promote integration, inclusion, and citizenship
  • The Biden Admin will implement a 3 part plan for safe migration:
    1. Address underlying causes of migration to confront instability, violence, and economic insecurity that drives migrants from their homes
    2. Collaborate with regional partners to provide protection opportunities to asylum seekers and migrants closer to home
    3. Ensure that Central American refugees and Asylum seekers have access to legal avenues in the U.S.
  • The order directs the DOS Secretary, Attorney General, and DHS Secretary to develop a plan to improve the naturalization process within 60 days
  • The order also Revokes the Presidential Memorandum of May 23, 2019, calling for more stringent enforcement of immigration sponsorship requirements

Asylum restrictions

DHS – Rule proposed on June 15, 2020
  • A proposed rule published to the Federal Register that is seeking to change the language for asylum claims based on gender-based violence, gang threats, and torture by government officials, thus raising the burden of proof. This includes re-definition of “persecution” and a narrowing of categories of persecution.
  • The rule also aims to grant judges more discretion to dismiss asylum claims without a hearing.
  • To see rule, click here
  • By July 15, 2020, over 79,000 comments had been recorded in opposition to the rule. To read the comments by Human Rights Watch, click here

News on this rule: