The Biden Administration is working on a new "rule of standard" for asylum eligibility to mitigate the flow of migrants coming into the country, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a Friday visit to the Rio Grande Valley. 

Mayorkas added that the new guidelines should be ready by Thursday, May 11, when Title 42 — a public health policy that prevented asylum seekers from staying in the country due to Covid concerns — expires.

“What we are expecting is indeed a surge,” Mayorkas said. “There is no question, this is going to be extremely challenging."

The guidelines could include a penalty against asylum seekers who paid a smuggler’s fee, Mayorkas added.

“It is a security and humanitarian imperative that we have to cut the smuggler out,” Mayorkas said.

On Friday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security also announced that over $332 million is being allocated to assist communities providing humanitarian care for the migrants.

The cities of Brownsville and McAllen and Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley will receive a combined $24.9 million in federal aid under the allocation.

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