WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will sign an executive order Tuesday that will allow him to partially suspend asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border as 2,500 migrants cross the daily illegal threshold.
“We expect the order to take effect immediately,” a senior administration official said on a Tuesday call with reporters announcing the executive order. It would not be constant and would only apply to the southern border, including the southwestern land border and the southern coastal borders.
The White House records the highest number of migrant encounters within the EU southern border in 20 years. Presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump also managed to do this the most significant issue for voters. Biden’s move marks the most drastic reduction in immigration during his administration.
The ordinance introduces three changes to asylum law in accordance with Art Title 8 of the Immigration and Nationality Act when the 2,500-migrant threshold is reached, a senior administration official said. First, a foreigner who crosses the border without authorization will not be eligible for asylum.
Second, any foreign national who crosses the border during the period the order is in force and is considered for removal will only be referred for a credible concerns interview with an asylum officer “if he or she manifests or expresses a fear of returning to his or her country or the country of removal.” , fear of persecution or torture, or intention to seek asylum,” a senior administration official said.
The third is to raise the standard for credible apprehension hearings to a “reasonable level of likelihood of persecution or torture,” a “new, significantly higher standard than currently used at the border,” a senior administration official said.
“Together, these measures will significantly speed up and expand the consequences for people who cross the border illegally or without authorization and enable departments to more quickly expel people who have no legal basis to remain in the United States,” a senior administration official said.
The order, a version of which was announced before the White House’s announcement, was met with criticism from both sides.
Republicans such as House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana called it a “weak executive order,” while progressive Democrats sharply criticized it as a partial ban on asylum.
A senior administration official argued that the executive order differs from the Trump administration’s immigration policy because “it will only apply during periods of high gathering volume.”
Biden, who campaigned in 2020 to protect asylum rights, invokes the same presidential powers – Art. 212 letter f) the Immigration Nationality Act – which the Trump administration has used to justify several immigration-related restrictions, such as travel ban from predominantly Muslim countries.
Biden’s order would also allow border officials to return to Mexico some people who cross the border without authorization – citizens of Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela.
Exceptions will apply to lawful constant residents, unaccompanied minors, people undergoing an “acute medical emergency” or those in a situation of extreme threat to life or safety, and victims of human trafficking, a senior administration official said.
A senior administration official said the ephemeral order would end when there are fewer than 1,500 migrants a day between ports of entry for seven consecutive days. Once agreed, the order expires within 14 calendar days.
The Biden administration was considering moving forward with an executive order after the breakdown of an immigration deal the White House and Senate negotiated earlier this year after Trump opposed it. Republicans quickly joined the ranks. That agreement would give Biden, among other things, the power to reject any asylum claims once encounters reach 5,000 people a week or 8,500 a day.
A senior administration official said the 2,500-person threshold was chosen to be similar to the deal that has stalled in the Senate.
“For Joe Biden, the safety of American families should always come first,” Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates said in the memo.
“That’s why today the President is announcing historic new executive actions aimed at preventing migrants who illegally cross our southern border from receiving asylum. With President Biden’s leadership, law enforcement will have new opportunities that Republicans in Congress will be powerless to block.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
