Biden administration weighs making it harder to end asylum crackdown at border

The Biden administration is debating changes that would make it harder to lift the sweeping asylum restrictions it enacted in June, drafting plans to alter the criteria that would be used to deactivate the strict border measure, two Department of Homeland Security officials told CBS News.

The proposed changes concern a proclamation issued in early June by President Biden that has effectively shut down access to the American asylum system for migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. Officials have credited the crackdown, the most restrictive asylum policy by a Democratic president, for a four-year-low in unauthorized border crossings.

Mr. Biden's asylum ban included a deactivation trigger, in which the policy would be discontinued if the seven-day average of daily illegal border crossings fell below 1,500. Under the proposed changes, the asylum restrictions would only be deactivated if the seven-day average of unlawful border crossings stay below 1,500 for 28 days, the DHS officials said, requesting anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.