UN migration and refugee agencies cite ‘fundamental’ right to asylum after US moves to restrict it

GENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s migration and refugee agencies expressed concern over Biden administration plans for new asylum restrictions in the United States and said the right to asylum is fundamental.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday unveiled plans to enact immediate significant restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border as the White House tries to neutralize immigration as a political liability ahead of the November elections.

The move would bar migrants from being granted asylum when officials deem that the southern border with Mexico is overwhelmed. It comes after the collapse months ago of a bipartisan border security deal in Congress that most Republican lawmakers rejected at the behest of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Refugee agency UNHCR urged the U.S. to “reconsider restrictions that undermine the fundamental right to seek asylum.”

“The new measures will deny access to asylum for many individuals who are in need of international protection, and who may now find themselves without a viable option for seeking safety and even at risk of refoulement,” it said in a statement issued late Tuesday, referring to a term for turning people back to places where they could face persecution.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RELATED COVERAGE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RELATED COVERAGE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Italy’s premier visits Albania as controversial plan to hold Italy-bound migrants nears its start </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»>