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1 1 (July 17, 2023)

handle is hein.crs/govemfw0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional_______ SaResearch S rvice The Department of Homeland Security's Metering Policy: Legal Issues Updated July 17, 2023 Generally, an alien who arrives in the United States without valid documentation is subject to a streamlined, expedited removal process, but may pursue asylum and related protections if, during processing, the alien demonstrates a credible fear of persecution in his or her country of origin. Before the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had been limiting the number of aliens who were processed each day at designated ports of entry along the U.S. southwest border. Aliens affected by this policy generally had not yet reached the U.S. border and were required to remain in Mexico until CBP decided it had the capacity to process them. This CBP policy-known as metering-sought to address an unprecedented rise in asylum requests, as well as safety and health concerns resulting from overcrowding at ports of entry. The policy had led to long wait times and overcrowded conditions on the Mexican side of the border, and arguably incentivized attempts to illegally cross the border between ports of entry. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, CBP in March 2020 implemented an order that shut down asylum processing for many aliens arriving at the U.S. border (referred to as the Title 42 order), with certain exceptions. The Title 42 order remained in effect until May 11, 2023. During that period, CBP largely suspended metering, and most asylum processing waitlists were closed to aliens seeking to enter the United States after March 2020. In November 2021, CBP rescinded the metering policy. To date, there has been one challenge to CBP's metering policy that has resulted in a decision by a federal district court. In 2017, a group of asylum seekers and advocacy organizations sued in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California to challenge CBP's metering policy, alleging that the policy violated statutory, constitutional, and international law. In 2021, the district court ruled in Al Otro Lado v. Mayorkas that metering violates statutory provisions that require CBP officers to inspect and process asylum seekers arriving at the U.S. border, and infringes on their constitutional right to due process. In 2022, the court issued a declaratory judgment making it unlawful, absent any independent, express, and lawful statutory authority, for CBP officers to refuse to provide inspection or asylum processing to aliens who are in the process of arriving in the United States at a port of entry. Although CBP had rescinded its metering policy by the time of the ruling, the questions raised in the Al Otro Lado litigation may affect the extent to which CBP can restrict access to asylum at the southwest border in the future, particularly after DHS announced initiatives to manage regional migration following the termination of the Title 42 order in May 2023. Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov LSB10295 CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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