On 29 April 2019 President Donald Trump issued a memorandum to the attorney general and secretary of homeland security entitled "Additional Measures to Enhance Border Security and Restore Integrity to Our Immigration System". This is a follow-up measure to the president's Proclamation 9844 of 15 February 2019, which declared a national emergency in order to address the security and humanitarian crisis at the southern border of the United States. The memorandum confirms that further steps should be proposed to enhance the integrity and efficiency of the existing asylum system.

Specifically, the memorandum tasks the attorney general and the secretary of homeland security with proposing new regulations that:

  • ensure that aliens who receive positive fear determinations are placed in proceedings conducted under applicable statutes for asylum applications or, if ineligible for asylum, are placed in proceedings conducted under the appropriate statutes for the withholding of removal applications;
  • ensure that in the absence of exceptional circumstances, all applications for asylum that are adjudicated in immigration undergo final administrative adjudication within 180 days of filing (not including administrative appeal);
  • require that the fee for an asylum application does not exceed the application adjudication cost; and
  • prohibit aliens who have attempted to enter or have entered the United States unlawfully from receiving employment authorisation before an applicable application for relief or protection from removal has been granted and ensure immediate revocation of employment authorisation for those aliens who are denied asylum or become subject to a final order of removal.

Finally, the memorandum tasks the secretary of homeland security with reprioritising the assignment of immigration officers and any other Department of Homeland Security employees that the secretary deems necessary in order to:

  • improve the integrity of credible and reasonable fear claim adjudications;
  • bolster immigration law enforcement; and
  • ensure that aliens who have final orders of removal comply with the law.

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