Washington, D.C (August 18, 2021) – A new analysis from the Center for Immigration Studies examines new rules proposed by the Biden administration that would allow asylum officers in U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to grant asylum (as well as other similar forms of relief) to aliens apprehended entering illegally or without proper documents, an authority now reserved to immigration judges.

The proposed rules would increase the share of applicants winning asylum (increasing the incentive to enter illegally) while slowing removals and aggravating the current border disaster by effectively ensuring that aliens who have entered illegally and claimed a fear of return are released into the United States. The new rules would also encourage asylum fraud.

Andrew Arthur, the Center’s resident fellow in law and policy and author of the analysis, said, “The idea that anybody who even asks for asylum would immediately be eligible for release into the United States is unfathomable. Between FY 2008 and FY 2019, just 14 percent of all migrants who claimed credible fear were ultimately granted asylum. Under these rules, though, every migrant simply claiming credible fear would be able to live in the United States, likely forever.”

The changes sought by the Biden administration would take away the rights of the American people to be represented in court when illegal migrants seek benefits that would place them on the path to citizenship. The rules would also make it harder for DHS to remove those aliens by giving them even more opportunities to appeal, ensuring the number of migrants would swell past their already historically high levels and abet fraud by promising aliens who have made bogus asylum claims freedom from detention.

Arthur said, “If you think that illegal migration and court backlogs are bad now, just wait until these rules are allowed to take effect.”

The public can submit a comment on the proposed rule starting today, August 20, 2021. The comment period that ends in 60 days, October 19, 2021.