77 Democrats call out Biden’s ‘disappointing’ migrant policy [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A letter from 77 Democratic lawmakers admonished President Joe Biden over the new migrant policies.
• The lawmakers slammed the policy as simply an expanded Title 42 and urged the administration to protect asylum seekers.
• Since the new policies went into effect, officials observed a drastic decline in migrant encounters at the border.

A letter to President Joe Biden, signed by 77 Democratic lawmakers, criticized his migrant policy that restricts asylum access for those crossing the border.

Among the lawmakers who signed the letter were New Jersey Sens. Bob Menendez and Cory Booker, and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The lawmakers called the new policies, announced on Jan. 5, “disappointing.”

The new policies provided more legal pathways for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. It also removed options for those nationalities to claim asylum at the border.

Even as 30,000 migrants from those four countries were eligible to apply for humanitarian parole protections from their home countries, Mexico will be taking back 30,000 migrants per month from those same countries.

Critics pointed out that the Biden administration simply expanded the Title 42 policy enacted during former President Donald Trump’s administration — a policy that was also heavily criticized by Democrats.

Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Menendez acknowledged the “difficult migration challenge at the southern border.” However, he said that they are “duty-bound to propose legal solutions” such as “one that protects asylum-seekers while also securing the safe removal of migrants who have no legal claim to stay in the United States.”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also discussed a proposed federal rule that allows his department to deny migrants the right to claim asylum at the southern border if they haven’t sought asylum in a country they pass through first.

In 2020, the courts blocked a similar proposal known as a “transit ban” from Stephen Miller, the senior adviser behind the Trump administration’s hard-line immigration policies.

The Democratic lawmakers said that asylum is an international right that should not be restricted. They urged the administration “to stand by your commitment to restore and protect the rights of asylum seekers and refugees.”

A White House official responded by drawing contrasts between Trump’s policy and the current one. They said that while Trump tried to “categorically bar asylum in the United States for everyone, everywhere,” Biden is providing “a safe, orderly, and humane process for seeking asylum.”

Both Democrats and Republicans have criticized Biden’s border policies. Democrats called him out for cutting off pathways for asylum-seekers while Republicans demand measures to make the border more secure.

Since the new policies went into effect early this month, senior Homeland Security officials noted a drastic decrease. On Jan. 24, the daily average of migrant encounters from the four specified countries was only 115, compared to the daily average of 3,367 on Dec. 11.

Officials have yet to report how many migrants from those countries have applied or been approved to enter the U.S. legally under the new programs.

Source: Yahoo News