(SAN DIEGO) — The Trump administration is considering a plan to turn back all people who cross the border illegally from Mexico, two administration officials said Tuesday, using powers they say the president has during pandemics like the coronavirus outbreak to mount what would be one of the most aggressive attempts to curtail illegal immigration.
The plan is under consideration and no final decisions have been made, according to the officials, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because the plan hasn’t been announced.
The officials said the president has authority to take such action in a pandemic and that Mexico’s efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus, along with Venezuela’s, have been the weakest in North and South America.
The administration had declared in November 2018 that anyone who crossed the border illegally from Mexico would be denied asylum, a measure has been blocked in court. Last month, a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in San Francisco upheld a lower court decision to keep that asylum ban on hold while a lawsuit proceeds.
The ban now being considered, which was first reported by The New York Times, would turn back to Mexico all people who cross the border illegally, not just those seeking asylum.
Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Heather Swift said the president was focused on protecting Americans from the coronavirus and that “all options are on the table.”
Immigrant advocacy groups condemned the possible move.
“Decisions relating to the pandemic should be guided by public health officials, not by the Trump administration’s long-standing agenda to close the border to refugees seeking asylum,” said Eleanor Acer, Human Rights First’s director of refugee protection. “The administration is using the pandemic as a pretext to advance its long-term goal of curtailing asylum rights for people fleeing persecution.”
The proposal would be the administration’s latest major policy shift to deter asylum and illegal immigration on the Mexican border. About 60,000 asylum-seekers have been returned to Mexico to wait for hearings in U.S. immigration court since January 2019 under its “Remain in Mexico” policy, which the Supreme Court ruled last week could stay in effect during a legal challenge.
Since November, the administration has denied asylum to hundreds of people from El Salvador and Honduras and flown them to Guatemala with a chance to seek protection there.
There were more than 851,000 arrests for crossing the border during the 2019 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. The proposed rule would apparently not apply to much smaller numbers who present themselves at ports of entry to seek asylum.
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