[20210319]LSB10582_边境庇护处理：法律基础知识.pdf

CRS Legal Sidebar Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress Legal SidebarLegal Sidebari i Asylum Processing at the Border: Legal Basics March 19, 2021 Recent statistics and reports from the southern border show a sharp increase in the arrival of non-U.S. nationals (called “aliens” under governing law) who lack visas or other valid entry documents. (This Sidebar generally refers to such aliens encountered at the cusp of entry into the United States as “undocumented migrants” to distinguish them from those encountered within the interior of the country.) The trend includes a notable uptick in the arrival of unaccompanied alien children (UACs). Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have opined that the current surge in undocumented migration could exceed the spike that occurred in 2019. As a result, questions have emerged about how the Biden Administration intends to address the surge and, in particular, how it plans to process the migrants claims for humanitarian protection from persecution or torture. The humanitarian protections available to undocumented migrants at the border under U.S. immigration law include asylum (a discretionary protection from identity-based