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WASHINGTON: US lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, on Sunday pressed Democratic President Joe Biden to take action to manage an expected wave of asylum seekers at America’s southern border when Covid-era restrictions are set to end this week.
US border cities are bracing for an influx of asylum seekers after a US judge in November moved to strike down a policy enacted by the Trump administration in 2020 that has allowed migration authorities to rapidly send asylum seekers back to Mexico and other countries.
The policy, known as Title 42, is due to end on December 21, and thousands of asylum seekers have been lining up at the US-Mexico border ahead of the easing of restrictions.
On Saturday, the west Texas border city of El Paso declared a state of emergency, citing hundreds of migrants sleeping on the streets in cold temperatures and the thousands being apprehended every day.
“It’s a very dire situation,” US Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas, a Republican, told CBS’s Face the Nation.
Gonzales called on Biden to revive past policies that tried to speed up asylum review and expedite deportations.
US Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat who also represents Texas, urged Biden to enact a policy requiring people to only request asylum at official border crossing points.