US quietly expands asylum limits while preparing to end them

By ELLIOT SPAGAT and CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN
Associated Press

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Officials say the Biden administration has begun expelling Cubans and Nicaraguans to Mexico under pandemic-related powers that deny migrants a chance to seek asylum, expanding use of the rule even as it publicly says it has been trying to unwind it. One U.S. official tells The Associated Press that up to 100 Cubans and 20 Nicaraguans are being expelled daily from three locations. A Mexican official confirms those numbers at at least one location. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the arrangement has not been made public.