The government of US President Joe Biden wants to significantly tighten the rules for asylum seekers in view of the crowds at the country's southern border.

Migrants who do not first apply for asylum in a transit country on their way to the United States will be turned away in the future, said the Departments of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. There are certain exceptions, for example for minors traveling alone. But people who did not fulfill these would be deported immediately. In addition, a five-year re-entry ban will then apply.

The regulation should apply for two years. It was an emergency measure in view of the rush expected in May at the border with Mexico. Then the Corona entry restrictions known as “Title 42” should be abolished. The new, around 150-page guideline is now to be published in the Official Journal, after which there will be a 30-day period for comments before it comes into force.

Sharp criticism from human rights activists

Human rights groups have criticized the new regulation as reminiscent of similarly drastic attempts by Biden's Republican predecessor Donald Trump to limit illegal immigration. However, these were stopped by a court in 2019. The planned regulation assumes that migrants who attempt to enter the country without papers are automatically not entitled to asylum. This contradicts the principle that those seeking protection can apply for asylum in the USA, regardless of how they got into the country. Only citizens from neighboring Mexico who do not have to pass through a third country on their way to the USA are not affected.

"The last thing the Biden administration should do is replace inhumane policies by the Trump administration with their own version of inhumane policies," a spokeswoman for Human Rights First said on CBS. The government said the approach was not comparable to Trump's. The Biden government has made exceptions for migrants from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba, Haiti and Ukraine.