COVID-19 restrictions on admission of immigrants come to an end

Lawmakers called on President Joe Biden to act on an expected wave of asylum seekers gathering near the country’s southern border in the United States. The situation stems from the fact that entry restrictions imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic are ending this week.

Border towns are preparing for an influx of people seeking asylum in the U.S. after a court ruled in November to overturn rules imposed by the Trump administration in 2020 that allowed immigration authorities to quickly send asylum seekers back to Mexico and other countries.

Those restrictions are set to cease on Dec. 21, and thousands of asylum seekers have already gathered near the Mexico-U.S. border.

The west Texas border city of El Paso has declared a state of emergency, citing hundreds of migrants sleeping on the streets in freezing temperatures and thousands detained daily.

“It’s a very dire situation,” House member Tony Gonzales, a Republican from Texas, told CBS.

Gonzales called on Biden to revive previous policies aimed at expediting asylum applications and expediting deportations.