DHS Sec. Mayorkas Explains the Asylum Plan

This episode delves into the new asylum policy introduced by the Biden administration, explained by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

1. The Biden administration has introduced a temporary asylum ban for individuals entering the U.S. illegally between official ports of entry.
2. Secretary Mayorkas emphasizes the development of lawful pathways as a means to manage and deter irregular migration effectively.
3. Exceptions to the rule include unaccompanied minors and individuals facing acute medical emergencies or severe trafficking.
4. The policy is framed as a response to Republican obstruction and a lack of congressional action on immigration reform.
5. Legal challenges are expected, with the ACLU indicating plans to contest the policy's legality.

1: Introduction

The episode begins with an overview of the new tough asylum policy by the Biden administration. Alejandro Mayorkas: "We are taking action in the wake of congressional inaction."

2: Policy Explanation

Secretary Mayorkas explains the specifics of the asylum policy, emphasizing its temporary nature and conditions for reinstatement or lifting. Alejandro Mayorkas: "It will be in effect immediately."

3: Legal and Humanitarian Implications

Discusses the expected legal challenges and the humanitarian considerations underpinning the policy. Alejandro Mayorkas: "We have, as you noted correctly, there are exceptions."

4: Political Context

The episode contextualizes the policy within the broader political landscape, particularly focusing on its implications for the upcoming elections. Alejandro Mayorkas: "We are taking action in the wake of congressional inaction."

1. Understand the official pathways for asylum to navigate the new regulations effectively.
2. Stay informed about legal changes and updates related to immigration policies.
3. If seeking asylum, consider legal counsel to navigate the complexities of the new rules.
4. Engage in community and legal advocacy to support affected individuals.
5. Monitor updates from organizations like the ACLU for developments on legal challenges to the policy.

With President Biden’s executive border action in effect, Homeland Security Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas joins Start Here to explain what it all means. Our team is in court for opening statements in Hunter Biden’s federal gun trial. And an FDA panel votes against the use of psychedelic MDMA for PTSD treatment.

People

Alejandro Mayorkas

Content Warnings:

None

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B
It's Wednesday, June 5. Well, that was quick. Asylum seekers are already being turned away. We start here.

D
Let'S fix the problem and stop fighting about it.

B
The Biden administration enacts a tough new policy on would be asylum seekers.

Alejandro Mayorkas
We are taking action in the wake of congressional inaction.

B
The Homeland Security secretary joins start here to walk us through a temporary ban that might not be so temporary. Meanwhile, the Biden Justice Department brings the receipts on Hunter Biden.

Terry Moran
No one is above the law. That was the first lines of the trial they heard.

B
Our team was in the courtroom for opening statements. And in the world of therapy, there might not be mushroom for psychedelics.

Lori Triptyn
I do believe that this saved my life.

B
The consequential vote that could shape PTSD treatment for years.

From ABC News, this is start here. I'm Brad milked.

Its been clear for a while now that immigration policy will be a major factor in November elections. And you might remember just a few months ago, it finally looked like we might actually have a bipartisan immigration reform bill in the works. We have a tremendous increase in the number of ICE agents, the number of border patrol agents, more asylum officers. This bill from Republicans like James Langford, Democrats like Chris Murphy and independent Kirsten Sinner. Panama had a number of provisions that border hawks have been calling for, for years.

Sony Salzman
We end catch and release.

We add more detention beds.

We increase deportation flights.

B
In particular, they wanted to end this practice that they call catch and release, which kind of a snarky phrase for a very serious issue. Let's go over it for a second. See, we have a law in this country that if you reach our turf, you can generally apply for asylum. If you're fleeing persecution or violence, you can ask for refuge here. The trick is you gotta get on american soil to do it. Well, all along the southern border, you got these official border crossings. We call them points of entry.

Every day, hundreds of people get to walk across the bridge or into an office or whatever, and formally ask for asylum.

Alejandro Mayorkas
She's saying she left Ecuador because there's a lot of crime there right now, extortion, violence, all of that.

B
However, barely 1000 people a day are invited across the border to do this. Everyone else is told, line's too long. We'll get back to you on our app, maybe weeks or months from now. Just wait there. In Mexico, well, there are thousands more migrants who feel they don't have that kind of time. So every day they come across the border illegally, through the desert, across the Rio Grande. They often present themselves directly to border agents and immediately say asylum because they know the law, they know they get to jumpstart the proceedings and perhaps get the help they so desperately need. This bipartisan border bill was supposed to disincentivize all of that by allowing the government to turn more people away and crucially, by funding more these formal asylum hearings for those who do wait in line, it would pay for more judges, more court staffers. But after clamoring for all this for years, House Republicans killed the bill at the request of Donald Trump. He apparently told them not to hand Democrats a bipartisan victory leading up to an election.

D
So today I'm moving past republican obstruction and using the executive authorities available to me as president to do what I can on my own to address the border.

B
Well, yesterday President Biden came out and pulled, well, a trump card executive action.

D
Frankly, I would have preferred to address this issue through a bipartisan legislation because that's the only way to actually get the kind of system we have now that's broken fixed.

B
This executive action he was proposing was historic. Biden said he now has the power to tell migrants that just because you make it to american soil doesn't mean you get to apply for asylum. If you do it illegally, starting now, you will be sent back. This policy went into effect at 12:01 a.m. this morning. And we got someone here to explain the administration's thinking on this. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas joins.

Secretary, thanks so much for being with us.

Alejandro Mayorkas
Thanks very much for having me, Brett.

B
First off, can you just walk us through these executive actions? Like, how is this going to work?

Alejandro Mayorkas
Yeah. So here is how it works.

It will be in effect immediately.

And what it provides is that individuals encountered in between the ports of entry at our southern border will be barred from seeking asylum. The way in which they can seek asylum now with this order in effect is by using the CBP one app and making an appointment to arrive at the port of entry at a port of entry in a safe and orderly way, or accessing one of our many other lawful pathways that we have established for people to receive humanitarian relief without placing their lives in the hands of smugglers. So if those lawful pathways are not used and people arrive at our southern border, they will. In between the ports of entry, they will be barred from asylum.

If the number of people we encounter averages for seven consecutive calendar days less than 1500, then we will lift this bar and we have the right to reinstitute the bar.

If the numbers average 2500 people encountered a day for seven consecutive days.

B
So 2500 is the point where you guys say, we're going to shut this, this type of asylum off and then 1500, it needs to get down to that point before you open it up again.

Alejandro Mayorkas
If it's below 1500 for seven consecutive days, we will reopen 14 days after the 7th day. If the numbers climb back up for seven consecutive days to an average of 2500 or more, we will reinstitute, we can reinstitute this asylum bar.

B
When's the last time that this country averaged 1500 crossings a day like that?

Alejandro Mayorkas
It has been quite some time, but.

B
Then again, but you haven't been secretary while it's been that low, I believe, right? It's never been that low.

Alejandro Mayorkas
That is correct. But Brad, what we have done over the past three years is build lawful pathways. And in fact, more than a million people have accessed those lawful pathways in the past year. So asylum is very much still alive. But we are deterring irregular migration in between the ports of entry and trying to cut out the smugglers, which is not only a matter of criminal justice, but a humanitarian imperative.

B
Given. I get that. And I get that you guys are trying to funnel people towards the quote unquote, like right way of doing things. But why? How is this not just a. Can't you guys just say this is a permanent ban? In effect, like, the whole idea that this is temporary seems to be out of touch with what the numbers have told us for years now.

Alejandro Mayorkas
I don't think that's true. And I think you are, frankly, Brad, predicting a landscape in the future. And that landscape is very dynamic and evolving. And it is certainly our hope that with our continued press on lawful pathways, our continued attack against the smugglers in the cartels, and this bar, that we will be able to drive lawful pathways successfully. And by the way, we're doing so not alone, but with our partners throughout the region.

B
Hey, and there are exceptions here, right? Can we talk about. I believe there are exceptions for minors.

The big question right now appears to be if a minor, if an unaccompanied minor still can perhaps get into the country and apply for asylum, does that encourage more parents to send their kids across the board like it's almost preferable, in that case, to send them a loan?

Alejandro Mayorkas
Brad, the reality is that desperate parents are sending their unaccompanied children now. And we felt that it was the humanitarian. Correct, humanitarian thing to do, adhering to our values to exclude unaccompanied children from operation of this rule. There are other exceptions as well. For example, somebody with an emergent acute medical condition, somebody who's suffered a severe form of trafficking. These are humanitarian measures that we have taken.

B
Can we talk about the court challenges that will inevitably come with this? Because are you guys invoking now the same sections of the Immigration and Nationality act that Trump did for some of his policies? That it was President Biden that rescinded these policies? Right. So how will you defend this in court, Brad?

Alejandro Mayorkas
We will defend this in court. We do anticipate, and the ACLU has indicated it intends to challenge this rule. We believe that this rule is lawful.

We have only taken what we believe to be lawful actions. This is quite different than what Trump did. Trump issued a ban across the board, unequivocal ban without exception. We have, as you noted correctly, there are exceptions. In addition, we have the lawful pathways that did not exist during the Trump administration.

B
And then lastly, you mentioned our partners in the region. Does this put Mexico now in an impossible position? Right? Because under President Trump, they were dealing with, like, all these people who have been told to remain in Mexico. And we saw, like, the intense public support that they had to get from mexican taxpayers. We've tried to be, like you said, partners with Mexico. We rely on them for so many things. Are we now telling them, hey, you're about to have a lot more people sitting along your border. Deal with it?

Terry Moran
No.

Alejandro Mayorkas
The former president threatened of Mexico. We are working very closely with Mexico, in partnership with Mexico and other countries. And what we anticipate and what we hope for is that fewer people will cross into Mexico and traverse Mexico to our southern border because of the operation of this rule.

D
Let's fix the problem and stop fighting about it. I'm doing my part. We're doing our part. Congressional Republicans should do their part.

Alejandro Mayorkas
We are taking action in the wake of congressional inaction. And what really needs to occur is the United States Congress needs to act to fix what everyone agrees is a broken immigration system. This regulation is no substitute for legislation.

The president cannot take executive action and provide this department and other departments in the government with additional resources. Only Congress can do that. The Senate's bipartisan legislation would have provided us with much needed resources and much needed fixes to our statutes that underpin our immigration system.

B
And a lot more conversations still to be had about this policy, especially in an election year. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, really appreciate you taking the time. Really appreciate you spelling all this out. Thank you so much.

Alejandro Mayorkas
Thank you, Brett.

B
Next up on start here. While Biden was making this announcement, his son was sitting at a defense table. We're back on the other side of the break.

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B
Now, if you're Donald Trump, you might be fine with the sheer volume of news right now, right? Anything that doesn't have to do with last week's historic guilty verdict that made you the first former president to be convicted of a crime. And indeed, Republicans have spent much of this week hammering people like Secretary Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland. But to many republican political operatives, the saving grace with perhaps the most staying power through the November elections could be the trial of Hunter Biden. Well, yesterday, for the first time, federal prosecutors started making their case to a jury. Let's take you to Wilmington, Delaware, where ABC senior national correspondent Terry Moran was watching these opening statements in the courtroom. Terry, what did jurors hear in there?

Terry Moran
Well, they heard right off the bat from the federal prosecutor in this case, Derek Hynes, that no one is above the law. That was the first lines of the trial they heard. And he went on to say, it doesn't matter who you are or what your name is, people are on trial because of the choices they made to break the law. And Hunter Biden, he said, made a choice knowingly to lie on a federal gun purchase form about his drug addiction and to keep that gun in his possession for eleven days. Those are the crimes he's charged with. Lying and possession of a firearm when he was addicted to drugs. That was really the heart of the prosecution's case.

They're going to elaborate it in all kinds of gory detail, if you will. The defense countered by saying that there will be evidence to show that Hunter Biden did not knowingly, he did not intend to violate that law. And that's because on that gun form, the question, are you addicted to drugs or abusing drugs? Is in the present tense. And it's the contention of the defense that the evidence will show that at that time, Hunter Biden hadn't been using drugs.

B
Oh. Cause I was gonna, like, wasn't. Hunter Biden has admitted, like, I was a drug addict. I was. But you're saying, like, the timeframe of when he's filling out the form matters to them.

Terry Moran
That's right. That is their claim. And they're gonna back it up because the prosecution is already begun showing this sordid tale, this litany of degradation that Hunter Biden descended into in the wake of his brother Beau's death. Prosecutor said Hunter Biden was smoking crack every 15 to 20 minutes from the moment he woke up. And once again, countering, the defense said, you will hear from Hunter Biden's family members and others that he did not have that wild, manic, degraded Persona that they knew. They knew it was different. They say you will hear evidence that he was very different at the time he purchased a gun than he was when he was smoking crack every 15 or 20 minutes.

B
And we started getting evidence, right? Like opening statements quickly, then gave way to witnesses. And what's so interesting to me here, Terry, is when federal prosecutors charged Donald Trump, the GOP declared it a witch hunt. Trump said the justice department was rigged, that they'll do anything to get Joe Biden elected. Well, if Biden rigged the DOJ, he might be doing a poor job of it because they're prosecuting his son. I mean, are the initial witnesses here going to be federal agents? What are we talking about?

Terry Moran
The first witness, in fact, Brad, was FBI agent Erica Jensen, and she came in to establish all these facts from that infamous laptop that Hunter Biden had from the iCloud, all of his text messages, and from his own audiobook recording of his memoir, beautiful Things. In all of this evidence, which came in through this, FBI agent, Hunter Biden, because this is part of his recovery, comes clean about his addiction, that he was wildly addicted to crack cocaine. It really is so intense to hear it. At one point, members of the Biden family, it was a hard day for them. His sister Ashley was in court and she grew emotional, started dabbing her eyes with the tissue. And the first lady, Jill Biden, their mother, who turned 73 yesterday on the first day of her son's trial, comforted her. This is a tough case for them to listen to because the facts are grim.

He was a crack addict and he bought a gun. Separating that is going to be the challenge for the defense.

B
So then what's next, Harry, if sort of establishing the timeline and what was happening when? I mean, what's next for the prosecution, I guess.

Terry Moran
Well, a very tough witness for the Biden family, Hallie Biden. Hallie Biden is the widow of Beau Biden, President Biden's eldest son, who died of brain cancer. And she became romantically involved after beau died with Hunter Biden. They were both using crack cocaine. She got out of it, and she was the one who found the gun. Hunter Biden had kept the gun in his truck. She ditched it in a trash can where it was later, you know, recovered by someone, and the police got ahold of it. That's how this whole thing began. So this is going to be an important witness for the prosecution, another tough witness for the Biden family.

B
All right, Terry Moran there in Wilmington. We know you'll be in court today. Thank you so much.

Terry Moran
Thanks, Brad.

B
Okay, one more quick break. When we come back, they were predicting ecstasy, but would they be disappointed? The results of a big vote come rolling in. One last thing is next.

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B
And one last thing. Magic mushrooms are grown in the dark, but yesterday, psychedelic drugs were under a bright spotlight.

Sony Salzman
Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this meeting of the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory committee.

B
Yesterday, a group of independent experts gathered in Washington as part of an FDA advisory committee. Their job, to decide whether a psychedelic drug can be used for PTSD.

When I hear psychedelics I think so. Are we talking like, nom nom, like, people munching on stuff? Or is it pills or what are we talking about?

Sony Salzman
So, typically, we're talking about pharmaceutical grade versions of party drugs that you may have heard of. Things like MDMA, things like magic mushrooms, things like ketamine.

B
This is Sony Salzman from ABC's medical unit, who is watching this hearing with anticipation, because in recent years, lots of research scientists have been begging the government to make these drugs more accessible in therapeutic settings.

Sony Salzman
Psychedelics are a big deal right now because there is a growing body of literature showing that they can, they have the potential to help people with psychiatric disorders.

B
Now, Sony wants to be sure you understand she is not saying going to a rave and taking a hit of Molly is about to cure your depression. Far from it. These doctors were discussing trials of pharmaceutical grade MDMA that was used during intensive therapy sessions with PTSD patients.

Lori Triptyn
I was constantly afraid. I had crazy mood swings, panic attacks, insomnia. I had intrusive thoughts, suicidal ideation.

Sony Salzman
So I interviewed Lori Triptyn, who was a participant in the clinical trials and has since gone on to do some advocacy work around this.

B
Lori experienced several traumas, all in a row. Her brother died, then her mother. Then Lori lived through Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. She's tried therapy for years with limited success, until she found this.

Sony Salzman
She enrolled in this clinical trial, and through that MDMA therapy, she was able to access memories that she had previously repressed. For example, she told me that with a therapist, she was able to remember details of her mother's death.

B
Now, if you're a therapist, this is the stuff you're often trying to get your patients to access, but they won't quite go there for lots of different reasons. Through these supervised MDMA treatments, she finds herself opening up and healing.

Lori Triptyn
It allowed me to build confidence with them and for us to come up with as a team to kind of decide what it is that I wanted to explore when I would be in these medication sessions.

Sony Salzman
MDMA, they call it the happiness drug, right? It creates a feeling of safety, and when you have trust with that relationship with that therapist, you have this feeling of safety, and you feel safe unpacking what is an incredibly traumatic memory.

B
And this is why so many psychiatrists had told Sony that yesterday was a huge moment. The FDA does not always rely on these panels recommendations, but they usually do. And when asked if psychedelics are effective here, a yes vote could pave the way for big scientific steps. Well, then there are two yeses and nine nos. No abstentions.

Sony Salzman
They voted no.

B
This vote wasn't close. Overwhelmingly, they said they just couldn't recommend this drug as effective. Sony says there are a few reasons.

Sony Salzman
Advisors really struggled with the fact that this was a very difficult trial to conduct in a placebo controlled way.

B
She says, think about it. If you were in the study, you were told, listen, half of you people are going to get MDMA, the other half won't. You'll get, like, a sugar pill. Well, these are not micro doses of MDMA, so patients are expecting to get very high, and then they're just not feeling high. So unlike many studies, these folks know they've gotten the placebo.

Sony Salzman
Basically what that opens up the possibility of is that the placebo effect can kind of emphasize the treatment benefit. Or if you're disappointed because, you know you got the fake one, you're maybe like de emphasizing the treatment benefit. Right.

B
The other concerning issue here was more urgent from a human perspective.

Sony Salzman
Specifically, one of the women enrolled in the trial said that she was sexually assaulted during a session, and that was very troubling to the advisors.

B
Anyone who's taken psychedelics, clinically or recreationally, can tell you you can lose yourself, right? They can free you from inhibitions. They can also conceivably make you vulnerable to predators. These FDA advisors seemed very uncomfortable with taking their foot off the brake so quickly as they voted no. Though members expressed sympathy to patients who were desperate for this to become mainstream, some of the people attending this virtually were veterans who encounter PTSD at alarmingly high rates.

Alejandro Mayorkas
Absolutely agree that we need new and better treatments for PTSD, especially in the somatic treatment space.

However, I also note that premature introduction of a treatment can actually stifle development.

B
In the meantime, patients like Lori are still hoping others will see what they see.

Lori Triptyn
I don't want to sound like a person that's too exaggerated to, like, exaggerate the idea, but I do believe that this saved my life 100%.

B
The FDA itself still has to do an official vote on this by August 11. Regardless of what happens, the debate on these drugs isn't over. The stress remains.

And again, Sony could not stress this enough. Just like taking Molly. Not good for your mental health. Like get a therapist is the actual lesson of the story here. Regardless, more on all these stories@abcnews.com. or the ABC News app. I'm Brad Milke. See you tomorrow.

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Alejandro Mayorkas
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