On May 12, the Biden administration implemented seemingly tough restrictions on asylum intended to slow illegal immigration. It also expanded the “legal” entry of those who likely would have come in as illegal immigrants earlier.
The Department of Homeland Security is crowing that the administration “has led the largest expansion of legal [immigration] pathways in decades.”
The tougher asylum standards and stricter use of deportation are supposed to offset the lifting of Title 42, which had allowed authorities to expel many border crossers with minimal legal fuss.
The administration plans to grant “parole” to 360,000 migrants annually from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The program has received 1.5 million requests to “sponsor” people from those four countries since January.
Once admitted as parolees, the new arrivals can “sponsor” other parolees from those four countries.
The White House also allows migrants in Mexico to book appointments at border “ports of entry” via the CPB One app. This program, along with the stricter asylum standards, is supposed to discourage illegal crossings and drive border crossers to official border “ports.”
The end result for most who can score an appointment is parole with work authorization. It is also overbooked with more than 62,000 people applying for the first 1,000 appointments available for one day, May 24. . . .