The Biden Administration proposed a rule this week that would accelerate the pace at which certain migrants could be processed and denied asylum after crossing the southern border. As the President seeks a tougher approach on immigration, Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragan (D-Calif.), urges Biden to not turn away innocent people.
The regulation seeks to cut down on illegal border crossings by targeting those who are deemed ineligible for asylum because of criminal records or who are assessed to be national security risks, according to NBC News. The proposal has been in the works for months and will be published by the Department of Homeland Security.
The new proposal is not considered a major executive action, NBC News reports.
While it is known that the regulation will aim to shorten the time to process asylum substantially— which can take years to be done— the actual details of the plan were not immediately available.
In an interview with NBC, Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragan, a Democratic representative from California, said the Congressional group had not provided details for the proposed rule. But once it happens, they'd like to take time to study it and make sure it benefits the parties involved.
"We don't know what the impact or effect will be yet, or how large of a group this will be," said Barragan of the proposed measure. "But if it's an issue where you have national security or public threat, I can see the reasoning behind it."
"But we also want to make sure that anything we put forth doesn't turn away innocent people, and that's our main concern," the representative continued.
Barragan also discussed a promised meeting between the Hispanic Caucus and President Biden to discuss possible executive actions he could take regarding immigration.
One highlight of these proposals was the possibility of giving certain protections to spouses of
U.S. citizens who may have been barred under current immigration law from qualifying for green cards for a set number of reasons.
The Biden administration has expressed interest in this topic. In late April, officials inside the White House and the Department of Homeland Security studied a range of proposals to provide work permits or deportation relief for millions of undocumented immigrants who have lived and worked in the U.S. for a long time.
"These are people who have been here paying taxes for decades," said Rebecca Shi, executive director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, a group of current and former CEOs that has been lobbying the Biden administration to provide immigration relief for undocumented spouses.
The Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the White House have experienced some tensions in recent months. Mainly because the Caucus has been left out of several negotiation meetings regarding the border, and immigration as a whole.
"We had requested to meet with the White House and to be part of the discussions when the Senate [bipartisan border bill] was occurring, and that was very frustrating that you didn't have a member of the Hispanic Caucus on the table," Barragan explains. "But [now] we have a different request for a different topic and that is to talk about executive actions that the president can and should take."
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