Returning to the language of the credible fear definition, the term "Could establish eligibility for asylum" is key to both the current credible fear process and to the proposed amendments to that process in the Senate bill, but explaining what that term means requires a few steps.
Section 3202 of the Senate bill would amend the current credible fear definition in two ways.
The Senate negotiators likely thought that by changing the modifying adjective in the credible fear definition from "a significant possibility" to "a reasonable possibility" - which section 3202 does - they were adopting that regulatory "Reasonable fear" definition for aliens claiming credible fear.
That's not what section 3202 in the Senate bill actually does, because it doesn't modify the whole statutory credible fear definition to match the reasonable fear regulation.
The regulation requires the alien to show a well-founded fear of persecution on account of one or more of the five asylum factors; the Senate bill just swaps out one undefined adjective for another.
Here's how the credible fear definition reads under the Senate bill: "The term 'credible fear of persecution' means that there is a significant reasonable possibility ... that the alien could establish eligibility for asylum under section 208 of" the INA. Not a reasonable possibility that the alien would be persecuted, but a reasonable possibility that the alien could establish eligibility for asylum, that is, something less than the already low "Well-founded fear" standard.
The Senate bill could have raised the "Credible fear" standard - blamed by many as the loophole allowing illegal migrants' to abuse our asylum system - by calling it "Reasonable fear" and limiting it to aliens who prove they have been persecuted or have a well-founded fear of persecution.
https://cis.org/Arthur/I-Was-Wrong-About-Good-Senate-Border-Bill-It-Wont-Curb-Asylum-Abuses
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