Fatshimetrie faced a major announcement on Tuesday as President Joe Biden unveiled plans to put in place immediate significant restrictions on migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border. The move comes as the White House seeks to neutralize immigration as a sensitive political issue ahead of the November election.
The long-awaited presidential proclamation would bar migrants from being granted asylum when U.S. officials believe the southern border is overwhelmed. The Democratic president had considered unilateral action for months after a bipartisan deal on border security failed in Congress, a deal that most Republican lawmakers had rejected at the urging of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee.
Joe Biden said he preferred more lasting legislative action, but said: “The Republicans gave me no choice.” So he acted on his own initiative to “take back control of the border,” while insisting that “I believe immigration has always been the lifeblood of America.”
“Trump told Republicans … he didn’t want to solve the problem, but use it to attack me,” Biden said. “It was a politically cynical act, extremely cynical, and a complete betrayal of the American people who expect us not to politicize the border but to fix it.”
Trump, meanwhile, used his social media account to once again criticize Biden on immigration, saying the Democrat had “completely abandoned our southern border” and that his executive order was “all for show” ahead of their presidential debate scheduled for June 27.
The executive order will take effect when the number of border encounters between ports of entry reaches 2,500 per day, administration officials said. This means that Biden’s executive order should take effect immediately, as daily averages are currently higher.
Average daily arrests for illegal crossings from Mexico were last below 2,500 in January 2021, the month of Biden’s inauguration. The last time border encounters dropped to 1,500 per day was in July 2020, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The restrictions will remain in effect for up to two weeks after the number of daily encounters is equal to or less than 1,500 per day between points of entry, over an average of seven days. These figures were first reported by the Associated Press on Monday.
The Department of Homeland Security said increased enforcement with Mexico since high-level bilateral meetings in late December has reduced illegal crossings, but may work less well over time, creating the need for more action. “Trafficking networks are adapting, responding to changes that are being implemented,” the department said in a federal rule released Tuesday.
The department projects that arrests for illegal crossings could average as many as 6,700 per day from July through September.