Less than half of adult migrants stopped during an irregular crossing the southern border of the United States in the past month managed to apply for asylumaccording to records provided by the government to a California federal court.

The numbers that relate to the period between May 12 and June 13 of this year, reveal that only 46% of adults arrested at the border were able to overcome the new restrictions on access to asylum, which entered into force on 11 May. In contrast, before the pandemic (between 2014 and 2019), 83% of adults detained at irregular border crossings managed to apply for this protection, as highlighted by Blas Nuñez Neto, responsible for border policy at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, in English), in a document delivered to Judge Jon S. Tigar.

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Of the 8,195 adults under the new restriction interviewed by immigration authoritiesonly 3,753 were able to take the first step to seek asylum in the US., according to the records handed over in court. Tigar is responsible for studying the lawsuit filed in May by a range of organizations defending human rights against the new regulations, which limit the ability to seek asylum to those arrested on illegal crossing and fail to provide such protections. denied in a third country.

The regulation, which replaces Title 42, which allowed hot returns due to the pandemic, is also considering exemptions for migrants who demonstrate they are in “exceptional situations” such as medical emergencies or imminent threat of death, torture and kidnapping. . In his written statement to the court, Nuñez-Neto defended the ordinance, assuring that it has helped “discourage irregular migration” and helped “reduce migration through the Western Hemisphere”.

“DHS has improved technology and processes at the border and now they can process the cases” of people seeking asylum “much faster than before,” the official stressed.

As a result, he addedthe amount of time migrants spend in detention has also been reduced: from an average of 30 days in the pre-pandemic period to 13 days today.

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However, these new processes have been harshly criticized by migrant defense organizations in the US, who have pointed out that people are not guaranteed access to legal advice. The lawsuit against the rules imposed by Biden, which was brought by several NGOs in early May, accuses the government of copying the policies of its predecessor, former President Donald Trump (2017-2021).

The organizations argued that US asylum laws do not allow the government to limit entry based on how people entered the country or whether they have applied for protection in another country.

He in turn points it out people cannot be forced to seek asylum in other countries that in many cases they do not have systems equipped to manage the applications or are not “remotely secured”. The government has promoted the use of a mobile application, dubbed “CBP One”, as the primary legal means of seeking asylum, something that, by law, can only be done on US soil.

However, only 1,250 daily appointments are offered through this application to appear before authorities at a port of entry.