We don't need new laws to end the "border crisis." In fact, we already have laws on the books right now that *require* an end to the "border crisis." 8 USC 1158(a) explicitly allows any immigrant arriving here to apply for asylum legally at a port of entry law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/8/… Image
8 USC 1225(b)(A) explicitly *requires* that 1) inspectors at ports of entry cannot immediately remove someone seeking to apply for asylum and 2) requires that they refer those applicants for an interview with an asylum officer in the United States. Image
If these procedures were being followed, and immigrants were notified that they were, there would be no crisis. No one would be crossing illegally to apply for asylum. Just follow the laws already on the books.
But that's not what's happening. Instead, nearly everyone is being rejected at ports of entry, and it's forcing all these people into the hands of smugglers and causing them to make very dangerous crossings. It is leading to many deaths cato.org/blog/amid-cris…
And yes, the Biden and Trump administrations have made various arguments for why they don't have to follow these laws, but the point is that they exist! It's not like Congress needs to pass new laws to create these requirements. If they wanted to end the crisis, they can now
Obviously (b)(1)(A)...

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More from @David_J_Bier

16 Apr
Some expected effects of letting migrants come legally rather than illegally:

-Immigrants would travel to the US on reputable airlines.
-Human smuggling networks would lose billions of dollars in revenue.
-Thousands of deaths of immigrants would be prevented along the journey.
-Thousands of crimes against migrants would be prevented.
-Many more immigrants would free themselves from all manner of despotism.
-Freedom of religion, speech, association, property ownership, education, etc. would increase.
-People living in poverty would fall.
-More immigrants would return to their home countries for visits or permanently.
-The number of legal violations would fall by millions.
-The black market in fake identification documents would almost disappear.
-Billions of dollars of law enforcement spending would be freed up.
Read 8 tweets
15 Apr
Please comprehend how incredible this is: These kids who came in 2014 have faced a political & legal environment intended to cause their deportations for nearly every day of the last 7 years. Obama said point blank: "They'll get sent back."
DOJ created a "rocket docket" for kids to carry out Obama's deportation promise. There was intense pressure on IJs to deny. Some prominent lawyers were even telling kids to give up and accept voluntary return. Obama's DOJ had 3-year-olds in courts alone to kick them out.
The whole system was slanted to begin with. No right to attorney. Absurdly narrow interpretations of asylum law. That's before we even get to Trump with all the anti-asylum IJ appointees, the IJ completion quotas, and even more pressure to deny and deport.
Read 6 tweets
13 Apr
Amid Crisis, Biden Admits 0.2% of Central American Families & Kids Legally. Biden is not only making no efforts to encourage migrants to apply at legal crossing points. He is actively preventing them from doing so and working with Mexico to keep them away cato.org/blog/amid-cris…
Every administration has had a policy of trying to keep asylum seekers from applying to ports of entry in furtherance, but under Obama in 2016 and Trump in 2017, nearly 1 in 5 Central American kids & families came through legal ports of entry. Trump ended that. Biden's kept it. Image
The policy of blocking asylum at ports drives migrants to cross illegally and creates the "border crisis" of hundreds of thousands of arrests and thousands of kids in cages. Yet the Biden administration continues to claim that the better policy is to keep immigration illegal!
Read 4 tweets
18 Mar
Why didn't Fairness for High Skilled Immigrants Act, the bill that received the most votes last times, get a vote before or with these other bills? Obviously partly b/c it's not as high priority for the Dems as these other bills, but it's more complex than that. Work is ongoing
A reason these bills saw a vote when they did is b/c they had an April 1 deadline to get a floor vote w/o a hearing. Fairness has the votes to pass on suspension of the rules so there's no worry about that issue with this bill. So no deadline ultimately delayed the vote...
Unlike those other bills, this bill passed the Senate last Congress. That may seem good! Lock for a vote again! The problem is that the House disagreed with the Senate changes, and they are trying to work out the differences now so we don't end up in this back-and-forth again
Read 5 tweets
18 Mar
My latest long piece that explains how the Biden admin let the child migrant crisis develop. It chose to:
-keep kids in border cells
-separate kids from extended family
-expel kids w/ parents, causing them to come back
-keep legal crossings closed
cato.org/publications/i…
1. It chose to keep kids in CBP jails in double the numbers of 2019's kids-in-cages disaster in order to maintain social distancing at ORR shelters. This made no sense and led directly to children languishing days-weeks in CBP jail cells. The space was there the whole time
2. It continued expelling kids with parents to Mexico even after it was obvious that it was causing thousands of children to come back alone. This policy is separating far more families than were separated under Trump's family separation policy in 2019.
Read 6 tweets
1 Mar
In the same breath, Sec @AliMayorkas denounces Trump's "cruel" remain in Mexico while telling those wanting to come to "wait in Mexico" or be forced back to wait. Naturally, "wait in Mexico" isn't "cruel" in his opinion c-span.org/video/?509417-…
He continues to cite the CDC's bogus border declaration with a straight face as being about COVID-19. Even though health experts say it is baseless. apnews.com/article/virus-…
He continues to act as if there is no overlap between his returning of families with kids and the number of unaccompanied kids who are coming. It's causing family separation and a major humanitarian crisis.
Read 7 tweets

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