As President Biden announced new rules to deny asylum to more people who cross the US-México border, Pima County officials said they want out of the business of temporary assistance and shelter to recently arrived asylum seekers.
Here’s what you need to know about the latest developments in border policy.
The Biden administration issued an announcement and new regulations today severely restricting access to asylum for people crossing the U.S.-México border.
The rule goes into effect at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, June 5, just after midnight tonight, and will deny asylum to most people crossing the U.S.-México border between ports of entry.
The border remains one of the most hotly contested political issues in the country, and is a critical and divisive election topic in races from the U.S. presidency, the U.S. Senate, state lawmakers, and down to local county supervisors and sheriff.
Border policies will also be directly on the ballot in Arizona in November. After a final vote in the state legislature today, Arizona voters will have the chance in November to pass or reject HR 2060, named the Secure the Border Act. If passed, the new measure would let state and local police arrest people who have crossed the border without authorization. It also would empower state judges to order people convicted of the offense to be deported to their home country.
Read more from Arizona Luminaria on what asylum is and how asylum protocols have changed over recent years in Arizona and elsewhere.
What is the new federal asylum regulation?
Already being referred to as an “asylum shutdown — echoing a Republican rallying cry to “shut down the border” — the new regulation will be triggered when the Border Patrol’s daily migrant encounters exceed 2,500 people per day. Adam Isacson, an immigration expert with the Washington Office of Latin America, noted that migrant encounters have on average been more than 2,500 every month since February 2021.
The new rule stipulates that after asylum access is shut down, it will not be restored until migrant apprehensions drop below a daily average of 1,500 per day. Isacson also noted that numbers haven’t been that low since July 2020, during the pandemic.
The rule does not physically block anyone from actually crossing the border, but subjects those who do to much more severe asylum restrictions, which the administration hopes will deter people from coming.
If people show up at the ports and can get an appointment via CBP One — a phone application that lets 1,450 people a day submit themselves to a port of entry to begin an asylum claim — or can get a rare exception to CBP One, they won’t be subject to the new rule. In Arizona, the only port where people can make a CBP One appointment is in Nogales, where Customs and Border Protection officials typically only process 100 people a day.
“This is disgraceful,” said Laura St. John, Legal Director for the Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project, which is based in Southern Arizona, of the new rule.
“President Biden promised on the campaign trail to restore humanity to our immigration system, and instead, he is choosing to slam the door to safety shut to those who need protection most,” St. John added. “Like previous expulsion policies, this will result in families being separated and put the lives of people seeking asylum in grave danger.”
Christina Asencio is the director of Research and Analysis for Refugee Protection at the organization Human Rights First. Asencio told Arizona Luminaria that the new regulation “increases the likelihood that especially vulnerable refugees, especially those who don’t speak English or Spanish, would be summarily removed or deported to persecution to their country of origin or potentially to serious harm in Mexico. It increases the chances that bona fide refugees will be deported to their harm.”
UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, responded on X, saying the organization had “profound concerns” about the new regulation.
Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union announced via X that they intend to sue to stop today’s regulations from taking effect.
Hasn’t this been tried before?
Both the Biden and Trump administrations have made numerous attempts to limit asylum access to people crossing the U.S.-México border.
The most severe measure — which initially entirely ended access to asylum — was Title 42, a public health measure that allows border officials to immediately expel anyone who crosses the border who could pose a threat to public health. Title 42 was on the books from March 2020 until May of 2023, when it was revoked by the Biden administration.
The Biden administration replaced Title 42 with another regulation that limited asylum access, the legality of which is currently being heard in the courts.
In 2019, the Trump administration relied on the same statute invoked today by the Biden administration to limit asylum access, but they were blocked in the courts.\
In an interview with the Border Chronicle in April, Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, the policy director at the American Immigration Council, said, “We already know what it looks like when a president invokes Section 212 (f)” of the Immigration and Nationality Act “to suspend the entry of migrants. What it looks like is nothing, because nothing happened. And that is because it is already a violation of immigration law to cross the border without inspection.”
How is Pima County responding to asylum seekers?
Pima County has been using federal funds for years to welcome and orient asylum seekers released by the Border Patrol. Most people released by Border Patrol in Pima County only spend a few hours or a few days before heading to different destinations throughout the country.
The county has received approximately $98 million since 2019 to offer temporary shelter and transportation assistance to asylum seekers, according to a June 3 memo from County Administrator Jan Lesher.
The most recent tranche of funding, $21.8 million, was accepted by the Board of Supervisors on May 21, making it possible for Pima County to estimate that it would be able to provide services through the end of this calendar year.
At the June 4 supervisors meeting, Lesher explained that the next tranche of federal funds will be available to more communities throughout the country through a newly competitive application procedure, and county staff is concerned that Pima County won’t receive sufficient funding. County staff recommended not applying for more federal funding, as they seek to “transition out of this business,” Lesher said.
“It is not our desire to drop the baton on the ground,” Lesher said, but to pass it to another jurisdiction in the coming months. Lesher noted that Pima County may be the only community in the country that has not seen “street releases,” a term that means releasing people at bus stations and leaving them to their own devices. This is a concern for local officials, because it sometimes takes a few days before people can purchase bus or airline tickets to proceed to their next destination.
The state of Arizona has begun acting as the fiscal agent for both Maricopa and Yuma counties, Lesher said. This means the state applies for the funding and then redistributes the money to local jurisdictions.
Supervisor Matt Heinz, of District 2, said he would “hate to see leaving money on the table.”
Chair Adelita Grijalva, Supervisor of District 5, agreed, suggesting the county should apply for the grant to at least potentially have the option to use the money, especially if the state doesn’t come through.
“If we don’t at least put in for these funds, we’re still in this limbo of ‘when do we cut off services?’” Grijalva said. She added, “It’s a safety issue and we have to be responsible. If things change at the border, then we can make a decision of whether or not we accept the funds.”
Supervisor Steve Christy, of District 4, who has been against the county accepting federal funds for asylum seekers, said, “If we’re trying to get out of the business of sheltering asylum seekers, why are we prolonging the inevitable?”
“It’s in the best interest of the community to have a warm handoff,” Heinz said, pushing for the county to apply for funds and have more time to possibly arrange work with the state. Heinz called Pima County’s role to date as “expensive but successful.”
The item passed 3-1, with Christy voting no, and county staff will submit an application for funding by June 13. Supervisor Rex Scott was not present.
What are local organizations doing in response to border crossings?
As we enter into our hottest season, migrants crossing the border face serious environmental threats. In Texas last weekend, four migrants died from heat-related causes. In 2023, there were more than 800 known migrant deaths along the US-México border.
A host of local non-profit organizations, including No More Deaths, various Samaritan groups and Humane Borders have been putting water out and offering humanitarian aid for border crossers.
The Pima County Board of Supervisors passed 3-1, with Christy voting no, to give Humane Borders $30,000 to “provide, install and maintain industrial strength water stations and portable water in various remote sonoran desert locations in Pima County to help reduce deaths by dehydration and exposure as well as reduce the need for aggressive search and rescue operations in remote areas of Pima County,” according to to an agenda item that was approved at the June 4 meeting.
The agenda item explains the public benefit this way: “Recognizing the financial consequences these deaths have on our community resources, Contractor provides a service to support Pima County by helping reduce the costs related to the provision of healthcare, law enforcement, coroner services and burial services caused by dehydration and exposure.”
Laurie Cantillo, a board member with Humane Borders, told the supervisors during the call to audience session, “Whatever one’s politics or your country of origin, we all need water to survive.” She noted that since Humane Borders was founded in 2000 the group has received typically the same funding from the county.
In remarks to the board of supervisors, Cantillo ended with a plea, “Let’s agree that whatever your politics are on the border, it’s wrong to let people suffer and die out there.”
Editor’s note: Arizona Luminaria reporter John Washington’s wife works as a staff attorney for the Florence Project. She was not involved in any of the interviews or research for this story.
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