The new rule will take effect immediately after adoption, will be valid for a minimum of 90 days and will affect migrants who have stayed in Mexico or Canada in the past two weeks. If implemented, the bill would deprive asylum seekers of any legal protection.
In July, officials from the Presidential Administration posted a notice of a rule that would allow DHS officials to deny safe haven to those arriving from countries suffering from a range of health emergencies. This rule has not yet entered into force and is at the stage of formalization.
A draft new order received by BuzzFeed News says the US should not wait for the right to immediately deny asylum on land borders.
This new rule will deny potential refugees in the United States the chance of asylum and protection, known as «suspension of removal», if they have been in Mexico or Canada for any period of time for a total of up to 14 days. The new rule does not apply to green card holders.
Administration officials say the policy is necessary to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in the United States.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the United States continues to skyrocket. As of Thursday, more than 5 million people have contracted the virus, and more than 160,000 have died.
But human rights activists believe that there is no need for a new rule as a way to protect against coronavirus.
“The Trump administration is once again using COVID-19 as an excuse to achieve its long-awaited goal of disrupting the US immigration system. — said Aaron Reichlin-Melnik, political analyst at the American Immigration Council — Public health experts agree that mass deportation of refugees is not a viable response to COVID-19, and that it would be wrong to deport people, condemning them to death in the name of «public health care «.
