Tyhe current system has about 750,000 backlogged cases for about 600 judges….
The current system in place for decades does not not work well for the volume on intake …
And the process and immigration policy changes with each President since the Congress will not deal witrh the issues for political purposes…
The goal of the new asylum system is speed.
By allowing cases to be decided by an asylum officer, rather than a judge, officials hope to issue decisions within four to six weeks rather than the years it currently takes. (Immigration judges must have a law degree and at least seven years of experience as a lawyer. Asylum officers do not need a law degree but must, among other things, participate in a five-week basic training course.)
Currently, the administration has redirected 140 asylum officers — out of the current total of about 650 working in the agency — to conduct the new asylum merits interviews. In his budget, Mr. Biden has requested funding for a total of 800 asylum officers for the new system and 1,200 additional support staff. Officials said that would allow the government to eventually conduct 150,000 interviews each year.
The money to ramp up the system would not necessarily need congressional approval, but U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would most likely have to raise fees on things like visa applications to hire more asylum officers.
Mr. Mayorkas said the new system was working as expected, with cases moving quickly. Eventually, he said, that could reduce the incentive for migrants to trek to the border in the first place, because they would know their case would be decided swiftly.
Mr. Mayorkas said the percentage of people being granted asylum in the new system — about a quarter of the 99 cases — was similar to the percentage from the older, slower system, which suggests that applicants were not being disadvantaged by the speed of the process.
Fifty-two migrants who were not granted asylum under the new rules have been returned to the immigration court system for an expedited hearing before a judge. Most are likely to be ordered removed by an immigration judge and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, officials said.
“It’s at an early stage, but all indications are that it is having a very significant positive impact,” Mr. Mayorkas said, “both in the delivery of speed and in providing the due process rights that we have assured the community.”
Immigration rights advocates are still skeptical.
Karen Musalo, the director of the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the Hastings College of the Law, part of the University of California, praised the Biden administration’s efforts to find a more efficient way to quickly process asylum claims.
But she said it was not clear that migrants were being given due process or the time in the new system to properly make their cases….
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Conservatives have also vowed to continue fighting the new rules in the courts, calling the new rule little more than an effort to allow more migrants into the country….