Biden Admin Streamlines Canada Border Asylum Rules – OpEd
By Joe Schaeffer
Is there any reason to believe a Biden administration that has done nothing to reduce the tsunami of illegal alien crossings over the US southern border is now going to seriously address what has developed into a genuine crisis on the northern boundaries as well?
Internal Department of Homeland Security documents obtained by various media outlets revealed a plan to speed up the asylum process at the US-Canada border. The changes, which went into effect Aug. 14, are a follow-up to a March 2023 agreement between the Biden administration and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, allowing each nation to refuse entry to aliens who have not first sought asylum in either Canada or the United States, depending on which side of the border they were coming from.
The new policies call for asylum seekers to have documents ready for prompt screenings on their eligibility under the 2023 agreement. Previously, aliens could postpone such screenings, and now they will have only four hours to consult with lawyers, as opposed to the previous 24-hour time period.
Northern Exposure
On the surface, it sounds as if US Customs and Border Protection (CPB) officials will be better able to stem a portion of the flow of migrants at the northern border, which has quickly grown from a trickle to a floodtide. But in reality, the move is the equivalent of putting a Band-Aid on a bomb blast – one that can be easily removed after Election Day.
“CBP’s Swanton Sector, which spans across eastern New York, Vermont and New Hampshire, has become the most targeted crossing point for illegal aliens at the northern border,” the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) reported. “So far in [fiscal year] 2024, agents in the Swanton Sector have encountered almost 13,000 illegal aliens, compared to just 365 in FY2021.”
The surge has left border personnel astonished.
“The sector’s Chief Patrol Agent, Robert Garcia, has repeatedly voiced concern about the drastic spike in encounters in 2024, stating that agents were apprehending around 100 people per day in June, and that these aliens were arriving from at least 85 different countries,” FAIR related.
Keep in mind that this is the same Biden White House that has alwaysofficially endorsedthe position taken by the global open-borders network of foreign governments, NGOs, and big-money philanthropies, claiming “migration” is a “human right” that cannot be curtailed.
Getting Around Border Barriers
This is the administration that has allowed more than five million illegal aliens who crossed the porous southern border to remain in the United States via “parole” programs. This is the administration that has flownmore than400,000 illegals into the US interior via a grotesquely abused “humanitarian parole” program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans.
And now, it seeks to speed up the vetting process into America from the north. Given Biden’s track record, this does not bode well for the American people. “Hurry up and let them in” is not a solution.
“DHS carefully reviewed its implementation of the Safe Third Country Agreement with Canada and concluded that it could streamline that process at the border without impacting noncitizens’ ability to have access to a full and fair procedure for determining a claim to asylum or equivalent temporary protection,” the department said in a statement after its new procedures were leaked to the press.
This statement 100% jibes with Biden officials’ boasts of opening legal avenues into America as a way to cut down on the number of illegal border crossings.
“On International Migrants Day, we recognize the hundreds of millions of migrants living outside of their home countries,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinkencrowedon Dec. 18, 2023. “It is imperative that countries expand lawful pathways, protect vulnerable migrants, promote inclusion, and advance policies and processes to promote safe, orderly, and humane migration.”
New York Immigration Coalition President and CEO Murad Awawdeh gives the game away with his press release denunciation of the new northern policies.
“This serves no purpose other than scoring political points on border management. These policies will create unnecessary obstacles for people to access humanitarian protection,” Awawdeh declared. “Washington must stop playing politics with people’s lives at the country’s southern and northern borders. The Biden administration must invest in balanced solutions that pair humane border strategies with safe and legal pathways for immigration and a pathway to citizenship for everyone who calls this country home.”
Awawdeh and his open-border colleagues know full well that this is just a political gesture made during a crucial presidential election year. He further realizes that the administration he is allegedly calling out is committed to developing those “safe and legal pathways” he cherishes to allow illegal aliens to continue to make their way into the United States.
Paper shuffling is one thing, but take the Biden White House at its word when it publicly states that it will do all it can to keep the global migration runaway train rolling into American neighborhoods.
- About the author: Joe Schaeffer, Political Columnist with LibertyNation.com is a veteran journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He spent 15 years with The Washington Times, including 8+ years as Managing Editor of the newspaper’s popular National Weekly Edition. Striving to be a natural health nut, he considers staring at the ocean for hours to be an act of political rebellion.
- Source: This article was published at Liberty Nation