Asylum officers start hearing claims

EL PASO, Texas-The Biden administration unveiled plans to help trim the backlog of asylum claims at the border.

Asylum officers are expected to begin hearing cases in about two months.

Immigration courts are backlogged with about 1.7 million cases.

Under new rules, asylum officers will have the power to grant or deny claims.

It's an authority primarily limited to immigration judges.

Local immigration lawyers have different opinions on whether or not asylum officers should hear cases and determine an migrant's fate, rather than leaving it up to an immigration judge.

"I think asylum officers in the immediate moment can probably be of some relief. But you know, I do fear, what has happened in the past. You now pas predicts future. and in the past, what has happened is tens of thousands of asylum seekers have been turned away," said immigration attorney Ousia Davis.

"Yeah, the way they're going to do it definelty will help the backlog at the courts. And the court system is, I have cases that have been going on for three years. And so yeah, that's definelty gonna help that," said Marysol Castro, and attorney with Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services of El Paso.

According to the Associated Press, on average, it takes nearly for years to decide an asylum case.

The administration's new procedures with asylum officers comes as Title 42 is set to expire in about a week.