Dean Johnson Talks to National Desk about Biden Bid to Look Tougher on Border

Dean Kevin R. Johnson spoke to reporter Cory Smith of the National Desk for a May 9 story on the Biden administration’s plan to speed up some asylum claim denials.

There are obviously political ramifications to this proposed change, Johnson told Smith.

Biden is “trying to show (his) administration is securing the border, is responding to popular concerns with the border, is responding to Democratic mayors in places in the north who are complaining about the impacts of migrants on their cities, and really trying to calm Democratic concerns as well as Republican concerns with immigration,” Johnson said.

Kevin R. Johnson is the law school’s dean, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and professor of Chicana/o studies at UC Davis. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.