President Joe Biden is looking to reinstate Trump’s immigration restrictions on immigrants applying for asylum at the U.S. – Mexico border by making sure they must first apply for asylum in a country they passed through before reaching the U.S. border. 

In addition, U.S. asylum officers would presume that those immigrants applying are not eligible to enter the United States and would be immediately deported unless they can prove they face persecution in their home country. 

In essence: The Biden administration will deny asylum to migrants who show up at the U.S. southern border without first seeking protection in a country they passed through. 

The Biden asylum rule must go through a 30-day public comment period before it can be formally adopted. Once adopted, the asylum rule would stay in place for two years. 

Without this asylum rule, Homeland Security and the Justice Department expect migrant crossings to surge to 11,000 to 13,000 daily. 

Migrant border crossings in the fiscal year 2022 topped 2.76 million, breaking the previous record by more than 1 million. 

In opposition to the Biden asylum rule, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that 12 State Attorney Generals called the program “unfair” and stated that “seeking asylum is a statutory right … and is also enshrined in international treaties and protocols. … The Proposed Rule circumvents that right and potentially harms asylum seekers and the States that welcome them.”

The attorney general of California, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, and the District of Columbia signed the letter.