Earlier: Asylum Policy Driving Biden Border Rush. Time For An Asylum Moratorium!

The Biden Regime has proposed another amnesty for illegal aliens, this one to give refugee status to Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans, but only if they are living in Mexico. This new program would be different from the Parole Amnesty for those nationalities in that the CBP One app would be used, it would not be Catch-and-Release of those entering illegally, nor would it include the special parole program where such nationalities would obtain a sponsor and fly directly to the United States from their country.

The twist on this amnesty is that it will actually use the refugee process with the aliens admitted into the United States as refugees and having a legal status.

The Lying Press frequently uses refugee and asylum interchangeably, which is misleading. Refugee and asylee are two quite distinct legal statuses in immigration law. The primary difference is that refugees are aliens overseas who have a well-founded fear of persecution based on certain characteristics while asylees are aliens in the United States who meet the definition of refugees, i.e., have a well-founded fear of persecution based on certain characteristics.

Another common failure by the Lying Press is to conflate an alien applying for refugee or asylum status with the United States as being a refugee or asylee. An alien does not become either until an application is positively adjudicated by a Refugee Officer or Asylum Officer, respectively, employed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Lying Press seeks to subtly manipulate the reader into believing any claim by using incorrect terminology, refugee or asylee, instead of applicant for or claimant for such statuses.

In the latest manifestation of the Biden Regime Administrative Amnesty, the regime is considering creating a special refugee program for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans living in Mexico to apply for formal refugee status, which means assigning Refugee Officers to American diplomatic posts in Mexico where they would accept and adjudicate refugee applicants.

U.S. and Mexican officials are discussing a new U.S. refugee program for some non-Mexican asylum seekers waiting in Mexico, four sources said, part of President Joe Biden’s attempts to create more legal avenues for migration.

The program would likely be open to Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan refugees in Mexico, the sources said. Migrants would need to show they were in Mexico before June 6 to qualify, one of the sources said.

[U.S. Explores Refugee Program For Non-Mexican Asylum Seekers In Mexico, by Ted Hesson and Dave Graham, Reuters, July 2, 2023]

The most significant difference from the Parole Amnesty and the refugee program is that refugees have a quick path to citizenship as well as extensive rights to welfare and employment.

The plan under discussion would allow qualifying migrants approved for refugee status to enter via the U.S. refugee resettlement program, which is only available to applicants abroad, the sources said. Unlike most migrants who claim asylum after entering the U.S., refugees receive immediate work authorization and government benefits such as housing and employment assistance.

Refugees using the U.S. resettlement program can apply to become permanent residents within one year, offering more stability than other options.

Unmentioned is that after five years as a permanent resident, they are eligible for citizenship and voting rights. The key to this program, though, is that these applicants for refugee status have to prove that they are persecuted by the home countries. That will be difficult, as none are persecuted, and those currently in Mexico are there mostly legally, with Mexican visas, which makes them, under refugee law, firmly resettled and therefore statutorily ineligible for refugee status in the United States.

The Refugee Act of 1980 made firm resettlement a statutory bar to refugee status, but not to asylum. Interim regulations were issued soon after that made firm resettlement a bar in affirmative asylum cases. When the final asylum regulations were adopted in 1990, firm resettlement was made a bar to asylum in both affirmative and defensive cases. With the passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Congress codified firm resettlement as a statutory bar to asylum.

[Firm Resettlement, USCIS Training Manual, December 20, 2019]

The refugee applicants will also have problems establishing the claim of persecution, even under the softer Biden Regime rules, as most of those who have been paroled in or released after illegal entry are not submitting asylum claims, or if they are submitting applications, are having those asylum claims denied at high rates. This is not a surprise, as everyone knew that the purpose of an initial claim of persecution when detained at the border was to be released without being deported by Expedited Removal, then be given an appointment before the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), then become a no-show statistic. The goal was always to get released into America, then benefit from the other Biden Regime Administrative Amnesty, no interior enforcement. For the fake asylees and refugees, their goal is gaining access to welfare and employment, even if illegally.

The primary benefit of an approved refugee status is immediate employment authorization and the path to citizenship, but few can show that they are persecuted, especially Haitians, who are just fleeing poverty without even the pretense of persecution. Cubans and Venezuelans have some hypothetical claim to refugee status, but active persecution in both countries is limited to a small group of politically active persons, with most Cubans and Venezuelans more concerned about their poverty than politics. Which explains the need for the special parole programs for all four groups: If there was widespread persecution colorable under refugee law, they all would apply for refugee status or, once here, apply for asylum, but that is just not happening.

Of important note: Under current policy, an alien cannot apply for refugee status unless they are referred to the United States by the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees, and this is not in this latest scheme by the Biden Regime.

While this amnesty may have more a pretense of legality than others, there aren’t any “refugees” in Mexico. If any are approved, it is evidence of fraud and misconduct by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) employees.