(LibertySociety.com) – The Biden administration is facing backlash for terminating over 350,000 asylum cases in the last two years. Data from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) showed 102,500 asylum cases dismissed. In 2023, the number increased to 149,000. The largest number of asylum cases dismissed is likely to occur this fiscal year, as 114,000 asylum cases have already been closed. Biden’s numbers starkly contrast the previous two administrations and even the first nine months of his administration. In 2021, just 18,119 asylum cases were closed. In 2019 and 2020, only 4,746 and 4,730 were closed, respectively.
The terminations are not based on whether a person has a valid asylum claim. Instead, the cases were closed if the individual did not have a criminal record and the government did not see them as a threat to the country. However, Biden did not grant the asylum seekers amnesty, but they no longer have to be concerned with deportation. Andrew Arthur from the Center for Immigration Studies said the move was “just a massive amnesty under the guise of prosecutorial discretion.”
As Biden’s first term is nearing its conclusion, more than 7.6 million illegal migrants have been allowed into the United States. At the beginning of 2024, Democrats shifted their strategy to appear concerned about the crisis at the southern border. Alleged bipartisan legislation was passed in the Senate that most Republicans heavily criticized, as it would have codified illegal migration into law.
Then on June 4, Biden signed an executive order that would halt asylum requests if illegal migrant encounters exceeded 2,500 daily. Since the daily number was already over that threshold when he signed the order, it went into effect immediately. The order made clear that the requests would not resume until daily encounters decreased to 1,500. In an opinion piece for a media outlet, Arthur explained that Biden’s executive action was only for optics. He pointed out that 1.8 million asylum seekers would still be allowed into the United States even if the order is “fully enforced.”
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