What ‘Lawful Pathways’?
New Biden plan does little to deter illegal immigration
By Elizabeth Jacobs on April 28, 2023
The Biden administration is telling migrants there will be consequences if they cross the border without taking advantage of the “lawful pathways” they’ve created to allow inadmissible aliens into the United States — but we don’t see anything lawful about the new options.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Thursday, April 27, 2023, an update to its strategy for the end of its use of Title 42, the public-heath order that has been used (to varying degrees) to expel certain migrants who have crossed the border illegally since March 2020. DHS says it is issuing these reforms to build upon the border strategy DHS announced on January 5, 2023. The plan, however, does little to actually deter illegal immigration into the United States. Instead, it allows the crisis to continue in a new, more opaque form.
What’s in the Biden Administration’s Border Plan?
First, DHS announced that it will be imposing “stiffer consequences” for failing to use a “lawful pathway” into the United States. Specifically, DHS states that it plans to “transition back to Title 8 [immigration] processing for all individuals encountered at the border [that] will be effective immediately when the Title 42 [public health] order lifts”. Under this strategy, which mirrors DHS’s January 5 plan, inadmissible aliens who illegally cross the U.S. Southwest border:
Will generally be processed under Title 8 expedited removal authorities in a matter of days;
Will be barred from reentry to the United States for at least five years if ordered removed; and
Would be presumed ineligible for asylum under the proposed Circumvention of Lawful Pathways regulation, absent an applicable exception.
https://cis.org/Jacobs/What-Lawful-Pathways
