New asylum rules replace Title 42 as migrants scramble to enter US

After the US government ended the COVID-era border restrictions called Title 42, authorities replaced it with stricter asylum rules to deter the flood of migrants entering the country.Word has already spread among migrants that the new asylum rules will border crossings more difficult than ever. In the hours before a new regulation was enacted, thousands of migrants waded through rivers, climbed walls and scrambled up embankments onto U.S. soil, hoping to be processed before midnight.To make sure no one stops them on their way to the US, some migrants even posed as border officials while others tried to cross undetected.In Matamoros, Mexico, groups crossed the Rio Grande River in chin-high water. Some carried tiny babies and bags of belongings above their heads to make it into Brownsville, Texas.Meanwhile, in El Paso, Texas, hundreds of migrants were camping on downtown streets planning their next move.Families with young children wrapped in blankets awaited getting processed at the two towering border walls in  San Diego, California, across from Tijuana, Mexico.However, the unprecedented turn of events is not new for the Biden administration as even before Title 42 ended US was grappling with numbers of migrants at the Mexico border.US President Joe Biden has been slammed by Republicans for abruptly ending former President Donald Trump's Title 42. While Biden blames the Congress for not passing comprehensive immigration reform.Trump first implemented Title 42 in March 2020 as COVID swept the globe. Health officials said the order aimed to curb the spread of the virus in crowded detention facilities. It allowed US authorities to quickly expel migrants to Mexico or other countries without the chance to request US asylum.What are the new asylum rules?With the end of Title-42, the Biden administration has implemented its own version of border restrictions.The new rule presumes most migrants are ineligible for asylum if they passed through other nations without first seeking protection elsewhere, or if they failed to use legal pathways for US entry, which Biden has expanded.US asylum officers hurried to figure out what would be required to apply the regulation and the logistics of interviewing migrants held in U.S. border facilities, even as many of the workers opposed the stricter rules. Advocates have said they resemble restrictions proposed under Trump that were blocked in court.With inputs from agenciesRead all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.