On 2), it wouldn't surprise me if that's intentional: If you process asylum requests quickly, that would take some minimum amount of legal & investigative work

On 2), it wouldn't surprise me if that's intentional: If you process asylum requests quickly, that would take some minimum amount of legal & investigative work. And as 'reward', many asylum requests could turn out to be valid, granting applicants a permanent status. But if you let asylum seekers hang in a backlog, few costs for legal etc. Just a minimum for temporary housing. From which asylum seekers may disappear, after which they're 'not your problem' (probably still are, but somebody else's problem). Or situation in their home country improves, upon which you can hasten procedure, deny asylum & send 'em off. In the meanwhile, temp status asylum seekers could be subjected to all kinds of dehumanizing measures that wouldn't fly for permanent status holders or regular citizens. Yes it's dirty. But much shameful acts have already been used to counter the inflow of (undesired) migrants.