Important to note that prior to the first Trump administration (archived), the process to apply for asylum was to enter the United States, surrender yourself to CBP, go through their booking process, say you wanted asylum, and then a hearing on that claim would be scheduled. Critically, you would wait in the US for your hearing, which is far more secure from the drug cartels and corrupt cops and soldiers people are seeking asylum from.

Trump used COVID as an excuse to forbid anyone applying for asylum from first just entering the United States, instantly removing anyone who surrendered themselves after entering no matter what they were running from and forcing them instead to wait outside the US for appointments at designated ports of entry, which Border Patrol would spontaneously slow down (archived) or shut down (archived) for made up reasons. Biden kept that restriction on entry in place (archived and added a requirement that all applications for asylum come through [a glitchy app]](https://www.npr.org/2023/05/12/1175948642/migrants-are-frustrated-with-the-asylum-claim-app-even-after-the-latest-overhaul) (archived).

The people who you read about suffering in this news story would not be suffering in this way if Biden had gone back to Obama-era asylum procedures. Trump would certainly try to harm them in some other way, but by entrenching the international law violating system Trump first came up with Biden’s administration made it a lot easier for him. The next Democratic party member who becomes President has to learn that echoing Republican rhetoric and Republican policies has no political upside and causes real human suffering.