Trump Wants To Speed Up Asylum Cases And Start Charging An Application Fee

President Trump continues to seek to tighten the asylum process.  Hamed Alearez offers the details on the latest presidential directive for Buzzfeed. 

Here is President Trump's memo to the Attorney General and Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

Section 1 outlines the purpose of the latest policy directions:

"As noted in Proclamations 9822 and 9842 of November 9, 2018, and February 7, 2019, respectively, our immigration and asylum system is in crisis as a consequence of the mass migration of aliens across our southern border. In Proclamation 9844 of February 15, 2019, I declared a national emergency to address the security and humanitarian crisis at that border. That emergency continues to grow increasingly severe. In March, more than 100,000 inadmissible aliens were encountered seeking entry into the United States. Many aliens travel in large caravans or other large organized groups, and many travel with children. The extensive resources required to process and care for these individuals pulls U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel away from securing our Nation's borders. Additionally, illicit organizations benefit financially by smuggling illegal aliens into the United States and encouraging abuse of our asylum procedures. This strategic exploitation of our Nation's humanitarian programs undermines our Nation's security and sovereignty. The purpose of this memorandum is to strengthen asylum procedures to safeguard our system against rampant abuse of our asylum process."

UPDATE (May 1): Peter Margulies on Lawfare looks critically at the proposed asylum restrictions.

KJ