A common method for migrants to enter the United States and stay, potentially permanently, is to come to the border asking for asylum. Qualifying for asylum requires you have a reasonable fear of persecution or violence in your home country and evidence to prove it. It's very hard to actually be granted asylum. But immigration experts I've talked to say that many migrants find a way to stay anyway: They ask for asylum and settle into the country while they wait for a court date that might be years away, and then few are deported even if their asylum request is denied. That helps explain why the Biden administration's latest rule on the border has been so controversial. The government has made it much harder for migrants to apply for asylum, declaring that those who cross the border illegally can no longer apply for it. (Instead you have to go through an app and wait your turn.) On Tuesday, The Washington Post's Maria Sacchetti reports, a federal judge said that President Biden's rule violates the law, which allows anyone with a well-founded fear of persecution to request asylum once they reach U.S. soil, no matter how they got there. (Maria has a fantastic, deeper look at the rule the judge just struck down and its impact on migrant families waiting in Mexico.) Migrants crossing the Rio Grande from Matamoros, Mexico, in May. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post) | Migrants could soon go back to crossing illegally to ask for asylum "Most of the people coming are indeed desperate and face disintegrating and sometimes life-threatening circumstances," Jessica Bolter, formerly of the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute, told me last year as the other controversial border rule that Biden enforced — under Title 42 — was ending. "But there is at the same time a strong belief that if they get to the border, migrants will have a very strong chance of being able to get into the United States to apply for asylum, and that it will take years for a case to be decided." That could be bad news politically for Biden What has become an uncharacteristically quiet border since the new rule was put in place this spring could become chaotic as Biden ramps up his campaign for reelection. Immigration was one of the dark spots in Biden's polling early in his administration. Troubling images arose from crowded border situations, such as one of a White agent with Border Patrol, on horseback, trying to catch Haitian men. "I was horrified by what I saw," Biden's homeland security secretary said at the time. One of Biden's immigration officials quit in protest. Meanwhile, Republicans have jumped at the opportunity to appear hawkish on border politics. Texas and the Biden administration are barreling toward a court fight over whether Gov. Greg Abbott (R) can install barriers in the Rio Grande such as buoys and razor wire to keep migrants out. "Texas will see you in court, Mr. President," Abbott said. The legal fight over Biden's asylum policy could make its way to the Supreme Court. Will Republicans impeach Biden? It seems more likely today than yesterday. The top House Republican, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, opened the door to it in an interview on Fox News, saying Biden's family business dealings are "rising to the level of impeachment inquiry." McCarthy had previously tried to knock down far-right demands to consider impeaching Biden. He was probably worried that it would come across as too political as Republicans focus on keeping their tenuous hold on the House majority. But McCarthy's political calculations appear to have changed — or the pressure from the far right is working. He seems open to taking the first step toward impeachment, which could take the form of committee hearings looking at whether Biden should be impeached. (Quick fact check: I looked into House Republicans' investigation of the Biden family, and after more than a year, they have provided no concrete evidence for their vast claims of wrongdoing.) And quick civics lesson: Even if a majority of House members vote to impeach Biden, only the Senate can remove him from office. And Senate Democrats would not let that happen. |
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