CIS Comments on the DOJ/DHS ‘Securing the Border’ Final Rule
CIS asked the government to strengthen its new regulation to more effectively deter asylum fraud
By Elizabeth Jacobs on November 14, 2024
The Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) submitted a public comment to respond to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) and Department of Justice’s (DOJ) final rule (titled, “Securing the Border”) that will update its restriction on asylum eligibility for aliens who enter the United States across the southern border unlawfully while President Biden’s 212(f) proclamation is in effect. President Biden’s proclamation is a watered-down version of a 2018 Trump order that was intended to deter asylum abuse by barring aliens who enter the United States between ports of entry (illegally) from asylum eligibility. Biden designed the proclamation, however, to only be in effect at times Border Patrol encounters at the southern border reach 2,500 individuals per day.
President Biden issued an updated proclamation on September 27, 2024, to replace his original June 3, 2024, proclamation. This update strengthened the entry restriction by requiring that encounters between POEs must remain below 1,500 for 28 consecutive calendar days before the 14-calendar-day waiting period is triggered, rather than seven days. Biden also amended the proclamation to require DHS to include unaccompanied alien children (UACs) when calculating the number of encounters for the purposes of the proclamation. Accordingly, DHS and DOJ issued this “Securing the Border” final rule to align the regulatory restriction with the changes made in the president’s September 27 proclamation.
In its comment, CIS rebutted critics’ comments that the asylum restriction violates federal law and the United States’s nonrefoulement commitments under the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention) and the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT). CIS explained that neither treaty is “self-executing”, and therefore only domestic law controls their implementation. The Immigration and Nationality Act explicitly authorizes the departments to issue additional restrictions to asylum eligibility via regulation.
https://cis.org/Jacobs/CIS-Comments-DOJDHS-Securing-Border-Final-Rule
