WASHINGTON — The Biden administration proposed a rule Thursday aimed at speeding up the deportation process for migrants who are already ineligible for asylum.

The change isn't expected to have broad implications, but rather tighten existing rules. It comes as the White House and Democrats play offense on the border and immigration, one of the top issues ahead of the presidential election.

"The proposed rule we have published today is yet another step in our ongoing efforts to ensure the safety of the American public by more quickly identifying and removing those individuals who present a security risk and have no legal basis to remain here," said Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. "We will continue to take action, but fundamentally it is only Congress that can fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system."

What would the new rule do?

Significant immigration court backlogs mean it can take years before migrants who cross the border without authorization are determined to be ineligible for asylum. The new rule would allow asylum officers to make that determination within days.

The rule would move up checks for mandatory bars to asylum, such as criminal history or terrorism links, to the initial stage of the process, allowing immigration officers to quickly reject and deport those who don't qualify. It would not restrict more people from applying for asylum.

Migrants who intend to apply for asylum must first pass so-called credible fear interviews, which allows them to later make their case before an immigration judge. The regulation would allow asylum officers to check for public safety or national security risks during the credible fear screening.

A senior DHS official who spoke to reporters Thursday on the condition that he not be named said the agency is updating procedures to ensure available information, including information that is classified, is shared as early as possible in the immigration process. The rule allows the agency to save taxpayer money because those who are subject to asylum bars are detained throughout the lengthy immigration court process, the official added.

In 2020, the Trump administration implemented a rule similarly instructing asylum officers to apply asylum bars during credible fear screenings. That rule was blocked by a U.S. District Court in California.

But the Biden administration says this rule is different because it doesn't require asylum officers to consider bars in all interviews. Instead, asylum officers "would only consider a bar in those cases where there is easily verifiable evidence available" and the officer "is confident that they can consider that bar efficiently at the credible fear stage," the proposed rule states.

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