The Biden Border Crisis is Restricting Resources for U.S. Citizens and Legal Immigrants

Washington, D.C. – The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) submitted a public comment to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recommending policy changes to deter illegal immigration and fraud in the legal immigration system, which unsustainably strains and diverts agency resources away from lawful immigration programs and legitimate immigrant and nonimmigrant applicants.

Last month, DHS requested input from the public on how to reduce barriers to access immigration benefits. FAIR’s policy recommendations, if implemented, would help reduce barriers and delays for those seeking legal immigration benefits

“Under the Biden administration, illegal immigration has soared to levels not seen in 20 years. Asylum abuse is rampant as the administration has shown minimal effort to protect the integrity of our legal immigration system. The Biden Border Crisis is negatively impacting the American public, U.S. workers, and immigrants’ and nonimmigrants’ ability to access lawful immigration benefits,” said Dan Stein, president of FAIR.

Specifically, FAIR urged DHS to:

• Utilize section 235(b)(2)(C) of the INA (requires certain arriving aliens to wait in Mexico pending their removal proceedings with an immigration judge in the United States) or reinstate the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP);
• Reunite unaccompanied alien minors with family in their home countries;
• Rescind restrictive enforcement priorities that exclude nearly all deportable aliens and enforce immigration law in the interior of the United States;
• Require asylum officers to apply the mandatory bars to asylum and higher credible fear standards;
• Maintain “last in, first out” asylum processing priorities in order to discourage aliens from filing fraudulent asylum applications for the sole purpose of receiving work authorization;
• Terminate USCIS’s practice of accepting requests for reconsideration after an Immigration Judge has concurred with a fear screening determination;
• Terminate unlawful parole programs, including the Central American Minors Program (CAM) and International Entrepreneur Parole (IEP);
• Revoke unlawful regulations permitting certain discretionary issuances of employment authorization documents;
• Increase higher-paid and higher-qualified workers access to employment visas; and
• Terminate the unlawful DACA program.

“These recommendations would enhance eligible immigrant and nonimmigrant applicants to access lawful immigration benefits and minimize unreasonable processing delays. They would also eliminate many of the pull factors that encourage fraud and abuse of the asylum system, which has resulted in historic backlogs and delays. Most importantly, they also serve the interests of the American public by addressing pull-factors for illegal immigration, reducing unfair competition in the domestic labor market, and enhancing border security, which implicates national security and public safety,” Stein concluded.

EDITORS NOTE: This FAIR column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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