PResident Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order Tuesday that would allow his administration to suspend asylum requests at the U.S.-Mexico border once border apprehensions reach 2,500 per day.
Given that the current daily number of people encountered by Border Patrol between ports of entry is well over 2,500, this order would effectively shut down most asylum requests at the border when they come into force. In May, around 3,800 people were found per day, according to data obtained by CBS News. The asylum application process would only be allowed to resume if the number of daily encounters drops below 1,500.
The US asylum system is heavily overburdened, with more than 1.1 million asylum cases currently pending approval in immigration courts. The average asylum seeker waits about four years before receiving an immigration court hearing, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a nonprofit research group at Syracuse University. While cases are pending, asylum seekers live in limbo, with limited rights to employment and public benefits. The number of pending asylum cases has increased sevenfold since 2012, according to TRAC.
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The Biden administration says the executive order will help reduce the backlog and make the system more efficient. “President Biden believes we must secure our border. That’s why today he announced executive actions to prevent migrants who illegally cross our southern border from receiving asylum. These actions will take effect when high levels of encounters at the southern border exceed our ability to deliver timely consequences, as is the case today,” a senior administration official said in a statement. The order contains humanitarian exceptions for unaccompanied children and victims of trafficking.
Immigration is a top priority for voters, according to a recent Pew survey Research Center. Executive order comes as Biden fights at the polls against Donald Trump, whose hardline views on immigration may resonate with the American public. A January 2024 poll by CNN showed that nearly half of Americans support the detention and deportation of millions of immigrants.
The Biden administration also blamed Republicans for blocking a congressional border control bill — which also included funding for Israel and Ukraine — that would have provided funding for an additional 1,500 new Customs and Border Protection employees, 1,200 new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, fentanyl detection machines. to be used at the border and facilitated the removal of migrants believed to pose a threat to public safety.
Former President Donald Trump called the project “gift for radical left democrats“, and the bill has not passed the Senate. “Legislation remains the only way to permanently address border security and immigration reform,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said in a memo addressing the Tuesday’s executive order. “Today we are again calling on Congress Republicans to stop choosing Donald Trump and fentanyl traffickers over the Border Patrol Union and the safety of their constituents.”
Biden was expected to announce his plans in Washington D.C. and invited the mayors of two border cities, John Cowen of Brownsville, Texas, and Ramiro Garza of Edinburgh, Texas, to attend the event.
The number of crossings at the US southern border has declined since December as Mexican authorities have increased their enforcement efforts.
On Sunday, Mexico elected a new president, Claudia Sheinbaum. She comes from the same political party as the current president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who was cooperative with the USA on border policy.
-With additional reporting by Brian Bennett/Washington
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
