U.S. officials clashed over asylum restriction, and its legality, before Biden proposed it
CBSN
Washington — As the number of migrants entering U.S. border custody was spiking in July 2021, posing major operational and political challenges for President Biden's still-young administration, high-ranking officials proposed a drastic measure: making most recent arrivals ineligible for asylum.
The proposal entailed disqualifying migrants from asylum if they entered the U.S. between official ports of entry after failing to seek refuge in other countries, a move at odds with the promises Mr. Biden had made just a year prior to expand access to the U.S. asylum system after years of restrictions under former President Donald Trump.
The sweeping asylum restriction was proposed at a high level at the White House that summer as one of several policy options to curtail illegal border crossings, four former senior U.S. officials told CBS News, requesting anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
