Breaking Down Colombian-Born Bernie Moreno's Anti-Asylum Senate Bill
We finally got the bill text for S.200, aka the “RULES Act" (SCOOP).
WASHINGTON — Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) was born in Bogotá, Colombia, immigrated to the United States at age five, and became a U.S. citizen at eighteen.He won his seat in 2024, alongside his fellow Colombiano, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ). Last week, Moreno introduces Senate Bill S.200, a three-page anti-immigrant bill that would narrow asylum access without ending the program outright. Here’s the bill text, complete and unabridged —
DIG DEEPER
"Refugees Using Legal Entry Safely Act" (RULES Act) prohibits asylum seekers from being released into the U.S. while their applications are being processed. Moreno’s bill is the latest in a series of unfunded policy funnels that mandates the custody of new migrant groups: in this case, asylum seekers who refuse to self-deport at ports of entry.
If enacted, anyone caught entering the U.S. illegally, or staying past their allowed time, would no longer be eligible to apply for asylum. This would include the migrants who turn themselves into border agents between ports of entry. The bill further narrows the discretion of immigration agents on which migrants they can prioritize.
These changes are meant make it harder for some people to apply for asylum, while stopping short of eliminating the asylum system entirely, Moreno's bill makes it highly restrictive and tightly controlled, limiting who can enter the United States. So far, Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) is the bill’s only co-sponsor.