Biden-Harris Announces New Process for Asylum-Seekers at Northern Border

FAIR Take | August 2024

Last week, leaked documents revealed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to change how it processes asylum-seekers arriving at the northern border. Specifically, DHS plans to make two changes in how aliens are processed under its Safe Third Country Agreement with Canada. These most recent changes come after three and a half years of crisis level encounter numbers along the U.S.-Canada border, which spans 5,525 miles. The changes reportedly took effect on August 14.

These changes follow a March 2023 expansion of the U.S.-Canada Safe Third Country Agreement. The original Safe Third Country Agreement, which became effective in 2004, allowed the United States to turn back asylum-seekers if they had not first claimed asylum in Canada – but it only applied to aliens arriving at ports of entry. In 2023, Canada and U.S. agreed that aliens could be turned back for failing to claim asylum in the other country, no matter where they arrived along the U.S.-Canada border. 

Under the changes made last week, DHS will now require aliens who cross into the U.S. from Canada and claim asylum to have their documentation ready upon arrival to verify whether they are subject to the Safe Third Country Agreement. Previously, asylum-seekers at the northern border could postpone their screenings to gather this documentation. But now, border agents will “only consider the documentary evidence that asylum claimants have with them when they arrive.” Some groups, including unaccompanied alien children and aliens with family in the U.S., are exempted from the new requirements.

In addition, asylum-seekers will now be provided with a minimum of four hours to consult with lawyers before their screenings. Previously, CBP allowed for a minimum of 24 hours for legal consultation prior to an alien’s asylum screening. After consulting with attorneys and an asylum screening, aliens who are found to be subject to the Safe Third Country Agreement can be barred from claiming asylum in the U.S. and returned to Canada.

DHS’ changes to asylum processing at the northern border are no doubt the result of the skyrocketing number of illegal aliens encountered on the northern border in recent years. In Fiscal Year (FY) 2021, there were just 27,180 encounters along the northern border, but by FY2023, that number jumped to almost 190,000 – a nearly 600% increase. Encounters in FY2024 are on pace to surpass that record, with nearly 145,000 encounters to date.

CBP’s Swanton Sector, which spans across eastern New York, Vermont and New Hampshire, has become the most targeted crossing point for illegal aliens at the northern border. So far in FY2024, agents in the Swanton Sector have encountered almost 13,000 illegal aliens, compared to just 365 in FY2021. The sector’s Chief Patrol Agent, Robert Garcia, has repeatedly voiced concern about the drastic spike in encounters in 2024, stating that agents were apprehending around 100 people per day in June, and that these aliens were arriving from at least 85 different countries.

Along with surging encounters, the northern border has also become a hotspot for national security and public safety threats. In FY2023, 484 terrorist watchlist suspects were encountered at ports of entry on the northern border, a massive increase from 124 in FY2020. In fact, nearly 90 percent of aliens on the terrorist watchlist encountered at land border ports of entry in FY2023 were encountered at the northern border.

The concern about potential terrorists crossing into the U.S. from Canada is more acute than ever after Canada announced in May that it would increase the number of refugees accepted from Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Once in Canada, these nationals are granted refugee travel documents recognized by 146 countries, allowing them to travel outside the country, including the U.S.

Responding to this development, in late July, Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) wrote a letter to DHS Secretary Mayorkas expressing concern that Canada’s latest action could increase the risk of terrorists entering through the northern border. The letter included several questions, such as what the protocol was for permitting or denying entry to Palestinian nationals, or individuals processed under Canada’s new program, who are seeking asylum in the United States. The senators argued that “[i]t would be irresponsible for the U.S. to not take necessary heightened precautions when foreigners attempt to enter the United States.”

Finally, while the southern border gets the lion’s share of attention regarding drug trafficking, the northern border is struggling too. northern border agents have also seized nearly 64,000 pounds of fentanyl, over 269,000 pounds of cocaine, and almost 580,000 pounds of methamphetamine over the past three years. Communities in Indian Country have been particularly devastated by this increase in drug trafficking. According to congressional testimony, drug cartels are targeting native women and using homes on reservations as hubs to sell drugs they’ve trafficked over the border.

The new asylum processes were leaked as the Biden-Harris Administration attempts to project a “tough on the border” stance to the American people. In reality, the administration has failed to act for three and a half years to fix the border crisis it created, despite the growing national security and public safety risks flowing across our borders.

To learn more about the problems plaguing the Northern border, watch FAIR’s recent podcast with Congressman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), Co-Chairman of the Northern Border Security Caucus.