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The Biden administration’s attempt to ease the asylum backlog could have unintended consequences, said Columbia Law School professor Elora Mukherjee, an immigration law specialist.
That’s because asylum-seekers would face a disadvantage if they are detained and lack adequate access to counsel before making their case before a DHS official, she said.
“When children and families have an opportunity to present their cases in immigration court, at least they are afforded adequate time to secure counsel or prepare,” Mukherjee said. “There are a lot of questions about how this will be implemented.”
The impact of the change also depends on whether it becomes the “new normal” for asylum cases to go through DHS or the policy is applied more sporadically, said Austin Kocher, a research professor studying immigration issues for Syracuse University’s nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
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