Asylum seekers will have to comply with stricter conditions to be able to cross the border with the United States if Joe Biden's latest government law comes into force. The White House wants to “limit irregular migration” and create “safe and orderly additional processes” that replace it. To do so, migrants who do not accept the asylum application or arrive in an irregular way to the USA will be sent to Mexico and will not be able to return to make a request, banning entry into the country for five years. The measure will apply to adults and families, but not to minors crossing the border only. Several human rights groups have criticized the measure and contrasted it with the policies of former Conservative President Donald Trump.

This measure is called Title 8 and is scheduled to enter into force in May. It replaces Trump’s 42 title in 2020. So, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis. Trump, under the argument of health measures, returned 3 million migrants authorized by this law. It should be noted that every year some 200,000 irregular migrants try to cross the border with the United States. This law created a major disaster, both nationally and internationally: the Biden executive brought him to the United States Supreme Court and the court supported his maintenance in December last year. So they hoped that Biden's next migration law would be more humane, because Biden himself promised it.

But the new law you have announced is the most restrictive one so far and will be in force for two years, with the possibility of extension, at least in May. Migrants, when they are still in their country of origin or en route, will need to apply for asylum with US border officials. Only then will they be able to cross the border. The Biden Executive argued that the aim of the measure is to reduce the number of migrants arriving at the border with Mexico and to reduce the dependence of migrants on ongoing mafias.

Without human rights

As soon as the measure is known, human rights groups and international organisations have opposed it. The United States Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has announced that it will appeal against the measure, considering that it is contrary to the rights of migrants: “The proposal of the President of Biden would endanger vulnerable people and, furthermore, deny protection to thousands of people.”

Oxfam America and AI Amnesty International have gone along the same road. Both denounce that the measure will turn migrants away. “This extreme ban will close the door to countless refugees seeking U.S. security and protection,” explains the first. AI agreed on this and added that “this plan weakens the human right to asylum”.