WASHINGTON — Hispanic Democrats in the Senate expressed optimism last month about the Biden administration’s direction on immigration and border policy, after what several described as a “constructive” and “productive” meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas at the Capitol.
The senators said they raised concerns about potential new asylum restrictions, but Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., who chairs the Judiciary Committee’s immigration panel, said Mayorkas “clearly knows what he’s doing.”
Since then, however, the Department of Homeland Security has released a sprawling proposal that includes tougher asylum restrictions for migrants who cross through another country en route to the U.S.-Mexico border, and the agency reportedly has considered reviving the Trump administration’s practice of detaining migrant families.
