Democrats demand Biden administration end 'failed' asylum claims process

More than 60 House and Senate Democrats are calling on the Biden administration to stop its recently restarted practice of carrying out initial asylum screenings while immigrants are still in Border Patrol custody.

Sixty-six Democrats teamed up and sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Attorney General Merrick Garland Tuesday in a plea for the government to wait until immigrants who have illegally crossed the border are out of custody and released into the United States before determining if they may have a valid case for asylum.

"Requiring asylum seekers to undergo their Credible Fear Interviews (CFI) while in [Customs and Border Protection] custody and articulate their traumatic experiences within as little as one day of arrival into the U.S. is inherently problematic because of the recency of the trauma many are fleeing and the carceral nature of CBP custody," the letter stated.

"Compounding this new problematic practice is the difficulty asylum seekers face of trying to figure out how [to] navigate the United States’ very complicated asylum law, overwhelmingly without the benefit of counsel,” the letter continued.