By Noab Elam
A new variable is coming to the illegal immigration stage. President Trump is reported to now be considering a procedure that would empower the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials to determine whether asylum seekers can enter the next phase of immigration control after an interview.
According to The Washington Examiner, the Department of Homeland Security is hurrying towards a new policy that would “give federal law enforcement on the border the authority to conduct interviews with asylum seekers who fear returning to their home countries.”
These interviews, called “fear interviews”, are actually the first official step for asylum seekers trying to gain temporary citizenship status in the United States. In 2019 alone, there has been a bevy of asylum seekers arriving at the border, usually in the form of “migrant caravans.”
This new policy is supposedly going to help take some of the weight off Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by lowering the numbers of requests ICE agents have to attend to.
Given the policy is actually pronounced and put into action, CBP would make the decisions regarding asylum seekers. ICE would then manage those allowed by CBP. President Trump’s new plan would effectively change the way CBP and ICE process these individuals. Currently, CBP and ICE process each claim into the country one-by-one.
Sure that process works when the crossing rates are limited to a couple thousand a month. However, the recent appearances of migrant caravans have made it too overwhelming to approach it in that manner due to the border patrol custody holding time of 72 days. ICE simply cannot move fast enough to get immigrants out within the 72-day time limit. And if these immigrants reach the 72-day mark, they are released into the United States for two to five years until their hearing date, which many do not even attend.
While the proposed immigration policy could help these measures, there is some clear disadvantages. An example is that one interview makes it hard to determine intent of a person. Some would even say that allowing illegal immigrants into the immigration process before people looking to enter the country legally is unfair, and they would be right. Some would also say our aid should be focused on people in our own country, and they would be right. However, I believe that, as a country founded on Christian values, it is our duty as a country to help others. Given that, it is definitely a hard situation to manage.
Noab Elam is a senior at Clarendon High School.
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