Illegal migrants entering through the southern US border will no longer be eligible for asylum under a new rule, the Trump administration has said.
Announced by the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security, the ruling would stop asylum for those who breach any presidential restriction on entry. The president can stop migration in the "national interest", a statement said. The joint statement said presidents have the power to "suspend the entry of all aliens" and to impose "any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate on them" if they are judged to be "detrimental" to US interests under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Accordingly, if the president issues a suspension or ban on entry through the US/Mexican border, those who illegally manage to enter the US will not be allowed to apply for asylum once there.
Today, we are using the authority granted to us by Congress to bar aliens who violate a Presidential suspension of entry or other restriction from asylum eligibility," the statement said.
The American Civil Liberties Union swiftly declared the move "illegal".
"US law specifically allows individuals to apply for asylum whether or not they are at a port of entry," they said.
Under US and International law there is a legal obligation to hear asylum claims from migrants if they say they fear violence in their home countries.
However, the Immigration and Nationality Act “says very clearly that any person can apply for asylum whether or not at a designated port of arrival”, said Tom Jawetz, vice-president for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress.
However, the Immigration and Nationality Act “says very clearly that any person can apply for asylum whether or not at a designated port of arrival”, said Tom Jawetz, vice-president for immigration policy at the Center for American Progress.
Just under 40,000 applications for asylum in the United States were made by Mexicans and Central Americans in the five fiscal years from 2011 through 2016, while about 35,000 came from China, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (Trac), a data-gathering organization at Syracuse University.
The rejection rate of more than 80% for Mexican and Central American asylum-seekers is far higher, however, than the rejection rate for Chinese asylum-seekers, 22%.
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