Contrary to a recent policy that limited the number of asylum applicants allowed into the country to 2,500 per day, the Biden administration gave U.S. Border Patrol agents instructions on Friday to accept migrants from almost all Eastern Hemisphere countries, according to The Washington Examiner.
These people have been classified by the administration as “extra-hemispheric migrants,” which are people who travel through several nations without applying for asylum before arriving in the United States.
“Extra-hemispheric migrants have always been a challenge,” said a senior Biden administration official. “We’ve also been working with governments worldwide to enhance our ability to repatriate individuals to countries that have historically been challenging.”
One recent list of “challenging” nations includes Senegal, Mauritania, China, and Uzbekistan. For status hearings in court, immigrants from these countries who are judged difficult to remove will be permitted entry into the United States. On the other hand, immigrants from Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia must leave the country right away.
The San Diego Border Patrol was given these instructions, but agents are free to use their own judgment depending on the kind of people they come across. San Diego agents have declared they will continue deporting people of all nationalities in contravention of the administration’s orders.
The Examiner was informed by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer that the Department of Homeland Security carried out 36 deportation flights last week, the majority of which were to nations in the Eastern Hemisphere. Fifteen nations in the Eastern Hemisphere have received the return of migrants this year.
Migration from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean is typically incorporated into the legal system in the Western Hemisphere. Families from Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic, however, may be removed. The intention is to deny access to migrants from Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.
The administration is being accused of trying to boost the number of people living in Democratic-leaning districts and offer lower-paid labor, which is why they are changing their policy. Opinion pieces published recently in prominent journals, including The New York Times and The Washington Post, call for a review of immigration laws in light of the impending election.
The New York Times recently ran an article headlined “Why Biden Is Right to Curb Immigration,” which suggested that people’s opinions might be changing. Similarly, referring to the new cap of 2,500 migrants per day, Ramesh Ponnuru of The Washington Post remarked, “Biden’s new immigration policy is an admission of failure.”
Asylum seekers are not subject to the 17,500 weekly cap in spite of these measures. The activities of the Biden administration seem erratic, which can be a reflection of the stress associated with an impending election.
