President Donald Trump’s administration is drafting stricter regulations to tighten asylum policies to stop migrants from abusing the immigration system.
The Department of Justice is currently evaluating the proposals, according to a Friday Vox report. Several of the proposals aim to make it difficult to enter and stay in the U.S. illegally.
Currently, under Trump’s zero-tolerance policy, people who cross the border illegally are arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, yet the migrants can still seek asylum. However, the new regulations would not consider asylum grants to those who enter or reenter the country illegally.
The sweeping changes also clarify that there are no exceptions to seeking asylum, even to those escaping violence or abuse. (RELATED: Sessions Tightens Asylum Standards, Says Domestic Violence Not Enough For Valid Claim)
Attorney General Jeff Session acknowledged that people can face violence in foreign countries for several reasons relating to social, economical and personal reasons, in an opinion written on June 11. “Yet the asylum statute does not provide redress for all misfortune,” he wrote.
In addition, Central American migrants must seek asylum in Mexico before approaching a U.S. port of entry.
Such proposals hope to not only curb illegal immigration, but also end the abuse and violence Central Americans face by drug cartels and human traffickers. Vice President Mike Pence asked Central American nations to take measures against gangs, corruption, and removing “public advertisements for human traffickers within your nations,” to stop incentivizing Central Americans to illegal entry into the U.S, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
The DOJ also aims to crack down on incomplete asylum applications, false asylum pleas, and stop states from erasing the criminal records of illegal immigrants.
The proposed changes to immigration policies are believed to be the “most severe restrictions” since 1965, according to an anonymous source obtained by Vox.
The Department of Justice did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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