A New Hurdle for Asylum Seekers: 4 Hours to Find a Lawyer

The new time constraint comes after President Biden announced a near-total ban on asylum on the southern border.

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Migrants look for a place to cross the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juárez on Tuesday. The number of people crossing the border illegally has reached historic highs.

Migrants who want protection in the United States are now facing another hurdle, even after President Biden announced a near-total ban on asylum.

Starting on Wednesday, migrants who cross into the United States illegally have four hours to find a lawyer if they want to argue that they should be an exception to the sweeping restrictions on asylum that Mr. Biden announced on Tuesday.

If they cannot find a lawyer, they have to make a credible case on their own or be turned back immediately. Migrants previously had at least 24 hours or more to find a lawyer.

The tighter time constraint was laid out in an email from John Lafferty, the head of asylum at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, to the officers who are carrying out Mr. Biden’s executive action, which temporarily shut down asylum requests at the border.

Despite Mr. Biden’s order, there are still some limited ways for migrants to enter the country. People who legitimately fear being tortured or persecuted in their home country can still seek protection in America using programs other than asylum, but those programs have a much higher bar for eligibility.

Critics say the four-hour time limit could make it all but impossible to clear that bar.

“Migrants who may have been exposed to severe trauma in the days before their encounter with U.S. officials should not be immediately forced into what could be the most important interview of their life without getting a meaningful chance to rest, or get any help,” said Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the policy director at the American Immigration Council.

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