WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Tuesday allowing him to partially suspend asylum claims at the U.S.-Mexico border if the number of daily unauthorized border crossings reaches the threshold of 2,500 migrants.
“We expect the authorization to take effect immediately,” a senior administration official said in a phone call with reporters on Tuesday, introducing the order. It is not constant and applies only to the southern border, including the southwestern land border and the southern coastal borders.
The White House has the largest number of encounters with migrants in Southern border in 20 years. In addition, the likely Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has managed a top issue for votersBiden’s move represents his most drastic anti-immigration crackdown during his term in office.
The decree provides for three changes to asylum law. Title 8 of the Immigration and Nationality Act When that threshold of 2,500 migrants is reached, a senior government official said. First, a foreigner who crosses the border without authorization will no longer be granted asylum.
Second, any foreigner who crosses the border during the decree’s validity and requests deportation will only be referred for an interview with an asylum officer “if he or she is afraid of returning to his or her home country or the country of deportation, or is afraid of persecution or torture, or has the intention of applying for asylum,” a senior administration official said.
And third, it raises the standard for credible fear interviews to a “standard of reasonable likelihood of persecution or torture,” which is “a new, substantially higher standard than the one currently applied at the border,” according to a senior administration official.
“Taken together, these measures will significantly increase the speed and severity of consequences for those who cross the border illegally or without authorization and will enable authorities to more quickly deport individuals who have no legal basis for being in the United States,” a senior administration official said.
The order, versions of which were released before the White House announcement, drew criticism from both parties.
Republicans such as U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana called the order a “weak executive order,” while progressive Democrats sharply criticized it as a partial asylum ban.
A senior administration official argued that the executive order differs from the Trump administration’s immigration policy because the order applies “only in times of high clashes.”
Biden, who campaigned on protecting the right to asylum in 2020, is invoking the same presidential authority—Section 212(f) of the Immigration Nationality Act—that the Trump administration used to justify several immigration-related restrictions, such as the Travel ban from predominantly Muslim countries.
Biden’s order would also allow border officials to send certain people who cross the border without authorization back to Mexico – nationals of Cuba, Nicaragua, Haiti and Venezuela.
There will be exceptions for lawful constant residents, unaccompanied minors, people with an “acute medical emergency” or an extreme threat to life or safety, and victims of human trafficking, a senior administration official said.
A senior administration official said this momentary order will be lifted if fewer than 1,500 migrants cross ports of entry daily for seven consecutive days. Once that happens, the order will expire after 14 calendar days.
The Biden administration is considering moving forward with the executive order after an immigration deal negotiated by the White House and Senate earlier this year fell through. after Trump spoke out against it. Republicans quickly joined in. Among other things, this deal would have given Biden the authority to reject all asylum applications once the number of asylum applications reaches 5,000 in a week or 8,500 in a day.
A senior administration official said the 2,500 threshold was chosen to resemble the deal stalled in the Senate.
“Joe Biden’s first priority should always be the safety of American families,” deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said in a memo.
“That’s why today the President is announcing historic new executive actions to exclude migrants who cross our southern border illegally from asylum. Thanks to President Biden’s leadership, law enforcement will have new capabilities that Republicans in Congress cannot block.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
