< Migrants claiming asylum can be allowed into the U.S. Here's how it works

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Immigration looks different depending on your experience. And so far, we've heard the stories of a migrant family that crossed the border and a border agent. Today, we have a story of the law. The heart of the debate at the U.S-Mexico border is illegal immigration, yet thousands of asylum-seekers now arriving claim a right to be here. Near the border this spring, we met a recent arrival who insisted that her actions are legal. She was at Casa Alitas, a cavernous shelter in Tucson, Ariz., and that is where we sat with Yajaira Penaloza.

YAJAIRA PENALOZA: (Speaking Spanish).

INSKEEP: She says she arrived from Venezuela on December 25.

You arrived on Christmas Day.

PENALOZA: (Through interpreter) It was baby Jesus' gift.

INSKEEP: She was with another migrant as we spoke.

Did either of you come here with a visa, with permission?

PENALOZA: No.

INSKEEP: How do you think you will be able to stay?

PENALOZA: (Speaking Spanish).

INSKEEP: She says, "we entered by making an appointment on a U.S. government app. We're doing everything to be here legally while we wait." She's been given a court date in 2026, so federal agents will let her remain until that hearing two years from now, and if they're allowing her to stay, what is her status really? As we listen to border stories, we ran hers past Muzaffar Chishti with the Migration Policy Institute.

Does someone in this situation have legal status?

MUZAFFAR CHISHTI: The quick answer is no. What she is - and most people who are arriving at the border - are arriving without authorization to enter the United States, but she has an appointment. At the appointment, she is basically telling a CBP official that, I have fear of returning to my country, so she's being placed in what we call removal proceedings. She doesn't have any real status, but she can't be removed because she is showing up for an appointment to contest her removability. At that hearing, when she will be asked, do you have a remedy against removal, she'll say, yes, I'm seeking asylum.

INSKEEP: Was the United States obliged to let her in at the port of entry when she showed up without a visa?

CHISHTI: Yes. Anyone on U.S. soil who expresses a fear of returning to their country on the basis of five protected classifications, we have the obligation to let them in to pursue their asylum application.

INSKEEP: Does she have an opportunity to work legally during the couple of years she'll be waiting for a hearing in the United States?

CHISHTI: Under the law, once you put in an asylum application, within six months of that, you get the right to work.

INSKEEP: I understand that people from different countries may claim different kinds of status when they get to the United States. Does this person get anything special for being from Venezuela?

CHISHTI: Well, she would have had a much better status if she had applied from abroad. Four countries, which is Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, President Biden last year gave them an unusually special treatment, that nationals of those countries can fly in directly to the U.S. under a provision called parole. Someone who arrives on parole has lawful status, and they're also authorized to work. She could have done that. For that, you need a U.S. sponsor, that they will support you while you're here. She didn't do that, so she doesn't fall in that category. Therefore, she has no choice but to apply for asylum.

INSKEEP: Alejandro Mayorkas, the secretary of Homeland Security, was impeached by House Republicans earlier this year for allegedly over using the power of parole, actively letting people into the United States. What is the power of parole?

CHISHTI: The power of parole is as old as at least World War II, when we let in most refugees fleeing from Europe to enter the United States, mostly Jewish. An idea is that, look, in the absence of any other provision of the law which will allow someone to enter, like, you don't have a student visa, you don't have employment visa, you don't have family visa, but the administration thinks it's in the U.S.' interest to let that person in, parole authority is one important authority given to the administration. It's used for humanitarian purposes or for exigent circumstances. It's true that this administration has used the parole authority more extensively than any administration, and that is under challenge, and we'll see how the courts rule on that.

INSKEEP: Has it become very simple to get years in the United States simply by showing up in any fashion and saying, I want asylum?

CHISHTI: Well, that's true. I mean, that's sort of why many people think that the border crisis is actually an asylum crisis, that just invoking the word asylum then lets you enter the U.S. Then you're sent for a hearing, and then, at the end of that hearing, even if you're not granted asylum, the chances of being removed are very low. So therefore, getting the asylum processing and adjudication under control, which means efficient and timely decisions, is critical to send the message, just because you want to invoke the word asylum doesn't mean you'll stay in the U.S. for years at an end.

INSKEEP: You're saying there is a legal process; it can be followed; it plausibly even could work, but the number of people arriving has overwhelmed it.

CHISHTI: That's right. The only thing I would add is that we have rules, regulations, resources and staffing for a border challenge of 2008 era. That was an era when border challenge was single Mexican males trying to sneak their way into United States. No element of the definition is true today. More people are non-Mexicans. More people are family units. And almost all are not sneaking in but asking for asylum.

INSKEEP: Muzaffar Chishti, thank you so much.

CHISHTI: Thanks so much for talking to me.

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