President Joe Biden's administration would make it harder to seek asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border under several plans being considered that bear similarities to policies pushed by former President Donald Trump.
Two Department of Homeland Security officials and a person familiar with the matter said the administration is discussing a fast-track regulation to deny asylum to single adult migrants if they do not first seek protection in other countries.
The sources said they had not seen a copy of the proposed regulation so could not provide further details.
Since Biden took office in January 2021, his administration has struggled both operationally and politically with record numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally.
U.S. border authorities made 2.2 million migrant arrests at the border in the fiscal year 2022 ending on Sept. 30, although many of those included repeat crossers.
Another official said the Biden administration has discussed other Trump-era deterrents that include accelerated asylum screenings for migrants in Border Patrol custody.
Another possibility under consideration was to increase a practice known as "metering," which limits the number of migrants who can approach a port of entry to seek asylum, this official said.
