Biden Administration Rolls Out New Asylum Rule as Title 42 Ends — What It Means

As a key policy that allowed migrants to be rapidly expelled comes to an end, the Biden administration is implementing a new rule that would deny most asylum cases from migrants who are crossing illegally into the United States at the nation’s southern border.

The new policy will be put in place after the end of Title 42, a public health order invoked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the Trump administration at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, on May 11.

Here are five important things to know about the new rule.

What does the new asylum rule do?

Most migrants who are crossing the border illegally will no longer be eligible for asylum, with the administration saying that migrants must use lawful pathways to enter the country.

Under the rule, migrants will be eligible for asylum if they meet one of the following criteria:

Unaccompanied children will be exempt from the new asylum rule.

Why is this rule being put in place now?

The new policy is an effort by the Biden administration to mitigate the amount of migrants who are coming to the U.S. with Title 42 coming to an end. In recent days, thousands of migrants began heading to many towns along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Record levels of migrants have been apprehended at the border during Biden's term. While some are individuals who have tried to cross repeatedly, large numbers of migrants are fleeing political and economic turmoil from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti.

Who will this mostly affect? 

Most non-Mexican migrants will be affected by the new rule.

A migrant that is traveling through more than one country will be required to first seek asylum in a separate country before trying to seek asylum in the U.S. Non-Mexican migrants typically travel through multiple countries before arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Where Democrats and immigrant rights groups stand

Some Democrats and immigrant rights advocates have been critical of the Biden administration’s implementation of the new rule.

“President Biden just ushered in a new period of immense suffering for people already enduring violence and persecution,” Jonathan Blazer, director of border strategies at the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement released Wednesday. “He has closed off the possibility of asylum in the United States to the majority of people seeking safety – in contradiction with our nation's laws and values. In doing so, he is finishing Trump’s job rather than fulfilling his own campaign promises.”

Where Republicans stand

While Republicans have yet to comment on the new asylum rule specifically, the GOP has been critical of Biden’s handling of the border.

“The Administration has failed to acknowledge the crisis at our border, and is recognizing in the eleventh hour that the upcoming removal of Title 42 authorities, and the subsequent surge in border crossings that is predicted, will have disastrous effects on the security of our nation,” more than a dozen Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Mitt Romney, R-Utah, wrote in a letter Wednesday.