Migrants awaiting opportunity to apply for asylum at US-Mexico border (Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters)

Combining anti-immigration policies and his quest for re-election, Donald Trump orders restrictions on asylum.

Trump — who told border guards last month to break the law by blocking entry into the US by asylum seekers — took the legal route on Monday. In a three-page memorandum to the Attorney General and Acting Homeland Security Director, he demanded:

  • Adjudication of asylum applications within 180 days of filing
  • A fee for all asylum and work permit applications
  • A ban on migrants from authorization to work until relief or protection is granted

The new regulations are to be drawn up within 90 days.

The memorandum, likely drafted by Trump’s hardline anti-immigrant advisor Stephen Miller, declares “rampant abuse of our asylum process”. It provides no evidence of “abuse”, although the Department of Homeland has reported a 20-fold increase in migrants claiming “credible fear”, the first step in the asylum process, over the last five years.

Trump also cites his “national emergency” declaration in March, seeking to seize money from the military to pay for his Wall with Mexico: “That emergency continues to grow increasingly severe.”

He cites the interception of more than 100,000 migrants in March, the largest monthly figure in more than a decade. But he does not explain why this increase has occurred during his Administration and its “zero tolerance” policies, after four decades of decline.

The surge is largely due to families and children. Analysts say they are migrating because of conditions in home countries, and a hope of entering the US before the Trump Administration imposes further restrictions.

More than 800,000 asylum cases are pending, with an average wait time of almost two years. The Administration added to the backlog when it directed immigration authorities to reopen thousands of cases.

The Administration has already tried to restrict the number of migrants who can apply for asylum per day. It has limited applications from victims of gang violence and domestic abuse. And it has tried to dictate where asylum seekers must stay as they await resolution, prompting multiple federal court lawsuits.

In combination with other “zero tolerance” measures, ordered last April through the Attorney General, the restrictions have led to detention of more than 50,000 migrants, one of the highest numbers on record and about 5,000 more than the Congressionally-mandated limit of 45,274.

In 2016, the average daily population of migrants in detentionwas 34,376.

Immigrant specialists warn of hardship and further demands on Government services from the denial of work authorization as asylum is considered.

Michelle Brané, the director of migrant rights and justice at the Women’s Refugee Commission, said, “There’s a reason that we give people work permits while they are waiting for asylum, so that they can support themselves and don’t have to be depending on government assistance during that time.”

In the last two months, Trump has ramped up the anti-immigrant theme for his 2020 re-election bid. He has promoted the “national emergency” after Congress refused to fund his 30-foot-tall Wall, said he would pardon the head of Customs and Border Protection if he broke the law, threatened to close the US-Mexico border, and dismissed Homeland Security Director Kirstjen Nielsen and other officials for being “weak”.

TrumpWatch, Day 809: Trump — Close Border, Ignore Courts, Purge Officials

Trump campaigned on Twitter on Monday night with hyperbolic, unsupported claims:

He then made his overriding motive clear, “If the Democrats don’t give us the votes to change our weak, ineffective and dangerous Immigration Laws, we must fight hard for these votes in the 2020 Election!”