The agency cited “current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight Covid-19” as grounds for returning in late May to prepandemic policies for admitting migrants.
Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the secretary of homeland security, said the decision was meant to help American businesses in need of workers as the summer approaches.
The change is to take effect in late May, according to people familiar with the planning, and should restore the right of migrants to request asylum once they cross the border into the United States.
Officials are bracing for the number of interceptions at the border to rise much higher if a public health order that has limited immigration during the pandemic is lifted.