Under Trump-era border rule that Biden has kept, few asylum-seekers can seek U.S. refuge

Despite campaign promises to restore U.S. asylum, the Biden administration has expelled tens of thousands of migrants, including families with children, through a Trump-era rule that has allowed just 0.3% of those processed under it to seek refuge, according to data obtained by CBS News.

Since March 2020, U.S. border officials have used a late 19th-century public health authority to carry out more than 637,000 summary expulsions of migrants along the southern border. Of those processed under this authority, found in Title 42 of the U.S. code, only 1,897 asylum-seekers have been allowed to request protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture. Only 143 of the asylum-seekers screened for protection passed their interviews and were allowed to make a full case for U.S. sanctuary. Protection under the Convention Against Torture is the only humanitarian relief available to those processed under Title 42. Unlike asylum, it does not allow beneficiaries to obtain permanent legal status in the U.S.