U.S. TAPS GROUPS TO PICK ASYLUM-SEEKERS ELIGIBLE TO STAY

The Biden administration has quietly tasked six humanitarian groups with recommending which migrants should be allowed to stay in the US instead of being expelled from the country under federal pandemic-related powers that block people from seeking asylum, Elliot Spagat and Julie Watson reported for the Associated Press (AP).

These groups will determine who is most vulnerable in Mexico, and their criteria has not been made public. It comes as large numbers of people are crossing the southern border and as the government faces intensifying pressure to lift the public health powers instituted by former President Donald Trump and kept in place by President Joe Biden during the coronavirus pandemic.

Several members of the consortium spoke to AP about the criteria and provided details of the system that have not been previously reported.

The government is aiming to admit to the country up to 250 asylum-seekers a day who are referred by the groups and is agreeing to that system only until July 31. By then, the consortium hopes the Biden administration will have lifted the public health rules, though the government has not committed to that.

So far, a total of nearly 800 asylum-seekers have been let in since May 3, and members of the consortium say there is already more demand than they can meet.

The groups have not been publicly identified except for the International Rescue Committee, a global relief organization.

The others are: London-based Save the Children; two U.S.-based organizations, HIAS and Kids in Need of Defense; and two Mexico-based organizations, Asylum Access and the Institute for Women in Migration.

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