In his latest attempt to slow the flood of Central American migrants pouring across the southern border, President Donald Trump proposed sweeping new rules for asylum-seekers that would make it more difficult, and more expensive, for them to seek refuge in the U.S.

In a presidential memorandum signed Monday, Trump gave the departments of Justice and Homeland Security 90 days to implement the changes in an effort to stem what he described as an asylum “crisis” that has been plagued by “rampant abuse.” 

“This strategic exploitation of our nation’s humanitarian programs undermines our nation’s security and sovereignty,” Trump wrote.

The rules would, for the first time, require asylum-seekers to pay an application fee, deny work permits for asylum-seekers who enter the country illegally and require government officials to fast-track new asylum hearings to complete them within 180 days.

Critics say those changes would unfairly punish the most vulnerable people in the world, those who are fleeing violence, poverty, and food insecurity as Central America is gripped by a widespread, persistent drought. 

Rep. Lucille Roybal Allard, D-Calif., the chairwoman of the Homeland Security subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, opened a Tuesday hearing by decrying Trump’s memo as “another tragic step in the wrong direction.”

Whenever the new rules go into effect, they’re sure to face immediate lawsuits, as have other attempts by the White House to get a handle on the southern border.

In December, a federal judge struck down the Department of Justice’s attempt to cut off asylum for victims of domestic abuse and gang violence. In November, another federal judge struck down Justice’s attempts to cut off asylum for people who crossed into the country illegally, which is allowed under U.S. law. 

On April 8, yet another federal judge blocked Homeland Security’s plan to require asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico while their asylum cases in the U.S. are decided. But four days later, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit overturned that decision, allowing the administration to continue sending asylum-seekers back to Mexico while the lawsuit proceeds.

Monday’s memo lays out several changes that could have a big impact on people trying to request asylum.

The memo says the application fee required of asylum-seekers would not exceed the cost of processing applications, but officials did not immediately provide an estimate for what that might be. By comparison, the application fee for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program is $495, the fee for green card holders to become U.S. citizens is $725, and the fee to apply for a green card can be as high as $1,225, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Trump wrote that the fee is required to add some integrity to an out-of-control system. But critics say alerting criminals throughout Mexico and Central America that asylum-seekers will have to be carrying large amounts of cash will make them walking targets.

“Asylum seekers are fleeing persecution, and have left their families, communities, homes, jobs, and possessions behind in order to save their lives,” read a statement from the Tahirih Justice Center, a group that has been part of lawsuits challenging Trump’s immigration policies. “Instituting a new fee for asylum applications and work permits will simply drive asylum seekers deeper into poverty and leave them more vulnerable to victimization and predation by unscrupulous representatives, traffickers, and abusers.”

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Trump also wants to bar anyone who has entered or tried to enter the country illegally from receiving a provisional work permit and is calling on officials to immediately revoke work authorizations when people are denied asylum and ordered removed from the country.

That change is very likely to be challenged in court because it closely mirrors another change Trump tried to implement. In November, his administration published new rules that barred migrant who enter the country illegally from requesting asylum. But that ran afoul of both federal and international law and was blocked by the courts.

The 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act states that any foreigner who arrives in the USA, “whether or not at a designated port of arrival,” may apply for asylum. A United Nations treaty signed in 1951 by the United States says “refugees should not be penalized for their illegal entry” because extreme situations sometimes “require refugees to breach immigration rules.”

It’s unclear whether denial of a work permit would be considered an undue punishment against those asylum-seekers, but that will likely be decided in court.

Trump’s memo also calls on Homeland Security to reassign immigration officers and any other staff to speed up asylum applications. But it’s unclear how many officers would be reassigned, and who will do that work. 

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers currently conduct interviews of asylum-seekers, since they are trained and experienced at interviewing people in those situations. But the Trump administration has considered granting that power to Border Patrol agents in an effort to speed up the process, a move that has been bashed by immigration advocacy groups since Border Patrol agents are not trained to conduct such sensitive inquiries.

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